Could the ending be any more sad?
One year before Matthew Perry’s death, the actor opened up about saying goodbye to “Friends” after 10 years — and how Jennifer Aniston was the one to initially bring up the idea.
“The truth was, we were all ready for ‘Friends’ to be done. For a start, Jennifer Aniston had decided that she didn’t want to do the show anymore, and as we all made decisions as a group, that meant we all had to stop,” the late star explained in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
“Jennifer wanted to do movies; I had been doing movies all that time and had ‘The Whole Ten Yards’ about to come out, which was sure to be a hit,” he added. “… Even though it had been the greatest job in the world, the stories of Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel, and Phoebe had all pretty much played out by 2004.”
Perry, Aniston and their co-stars — Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — kicked off the beloved NBC sitcom in 1994. All fairly unknowns — minus Cox, who had been in a few films and danced with Bruce Springsteen in the “Dancing In the Dark” music video — the show ultimately launched their careers.
“It was not lost on me that Chandler had grown up way faster than I had. As a result, mostly by Jenny’s design, ten was a shortened season,” Perry went on in his book. “But all the characters were basically happy at this point, too, and no one wants to watch a bunch of happy people doing happy things — what’s funny about that?”
The “Friends” series finale, titled “The Last One,” aired on May 6, 2004. Before the final filming, Perry pulled co-creator Marta Kauffman aside and asked if he could be the one to say the show’s last line.
“No one else will care about this except me,” he recalled saying. “So may I please have the last line?”
Perry’s wish was granted. In the last scene, when Rachel asked where the gang should grab a cup of coffee — which naturally would be their go-to place Central Perk — Chandler simply deadpans, “Sure. Where?”
“I got to bring the curtain down on ‘Friends,’” the actor wrote. “I love the look on Schwimmer’s face as I deliver that line — it’s the perfect mixture of affection and amusement, exactly what the show ‘Friends’ had always given to the world.”
After 237 episodes together, the cast would say their goodbyes on set, but continued to remain close through the years.
“Aniston was sobbing — after a while, I was amazed she had any water left in her entire body. Even Matt LeBlanc was crying,” Perry noted in his memoir.
“But I felt nothing; I couldn’t tell if that was because of the opiod buprenorphine I was taking, or if I was just generally dead inside,” he continued. “So, instead of sobbing, I took a slow walk around the stage with my then-girlfriend — also appropriately called Rachel [Dunn] — stage 24 at Warner Bros. In Burbanks (a stage that after the show ended would be renamed ‘The Friends Stage.’) We said our various goodbyes, agreeing to see each other soon in the way that people do when they know it’s not true, and then we headed out to my car.”
Perry struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years, with the cast at one point confronting him on set amid the height of their success. He had been sober leading up to his death on Oct. 28 at age 54. He was found unresponsive and submerged in his hot tub at his California home, but his cause of death is still “deferred.” Authorities do not suspect foul play.
His former “Friends” co-stars reunited at his funeral in LA last Friday.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” the cast’s joint statement read about his passing. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
“In time we will say more, as and when we are able,” their statement continued. “For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
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