In a new interview published Monday, Jennifer Aniston dismissed speculation that Matthew Perry suffered a drug relapse that led to his Oct. 28 death, saying she had been texting with her good friend the morning he died and said he sounded happy, healthy and not “struggling.”
Speaking to Variety, Aniston said about her “Friends” co-star: “He was happy. He was healthy. He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy — that’s all I know. I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.”
Perry — who was long open about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, his multiple relapses, stints in rehab and dire health consequences — died unexpectedly at the age 54 of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles-area home. Los Angeles medical examiners have yet to determine what caused Perry’s death.
The actor, who played the sardonic Chandler Bing on the beloved sitcom, was found unresponsive in a hot tub that afternoon. Authorities said foul play was not suspected. Early news reports said that he appeared to have drowned, while other sources said first responders had been called to reports of a cardiac arrest, adding drugs were not found at the scene, Newsweek said.
Aniston shared her final observations about Perry’s health, while she and Reese Witherspoon spoke to Variety to promote their series, “The Morning Show.” Variety reported that Witherspoon took Aniston’s hand as she was asked how she wanted the world to remember Perry. Aniston seemed eager to let his fans know that he was in recovery mode.
“I want people to know he was really healthy, and getting healthy,” Aniston said. “He was on a pursuit. He worked so hard. He really was dealt a tough one. I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard.”
Before Perry’s funeral in early November, a friend of Aniston’s told the Daily Mail that she had “dreaded” a tragic outcome for him for 20 years.
“It doesn’t matter whether he died as a result of a freak accident or whether it was directly connected to his drug issues, this was a day that Jennifer has dreaded coming for 20 years,” the friend said. “She always wanted to help Matthew any way she could — that was a constant for her.”
When a struggling Perry managed to join his “Friends” castmates for a reunion special in 2021, Aniston “genuinely thought his worst days were behind him,” the friend told the Daily Mail. “So his death just two years later has come as a bitter body blow to her.”
Aniston and Perry, born just six months apart, were the youngest of the six “Friends” cast members and formed an immediate camaraderie when the show first started shooting in 1994, the Daily Mail said.
In Perry’s 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” he said that Aniston “reached out the most” as he struggled over the years with his addiction. She also was the “Friends” co-star who confronted him about his drinking on the set.
“I’m really grateful to her for that,” he told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer while promoting his memoir in October 2022.
