David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston have paid tribute to late Friends co-star Matthew Perry and thanked him for years of “laughter and creativity”.
Schwimmer, 57, played Ross Geller on the US sitcom, while Aniston, 54, played Rachel Green, starring alongside Perry in his role as the sarcastic and witty Chandler Bing.
In a statement posted to Instagram, more than two weeks on from Perry’s death, aged 54, Schwimmer said: “Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity.
“I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery.
“You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes.
“And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.”
Alongside the tribute, Schwimmer posted a photo of the pair, which he selected as it was one of his “favourite moments” with Perry.
“It makes me smile and grieve at the same time,” he said.
“I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around — ‘Could there BE any more clouds?’”
Aniston also posted a tribute to Perry on her Instagram page and said: “Oh boy this one has cut deep… Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before.
“We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love.
“Being able to really sit in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply.”
“He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us.
“This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.
“For Matty, he knew he loved to make people laugh.
“As he said himself, if he didn’t hear the ‘laugh’ he thought he was going to die.
“His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that.
Aniston went onto say that she had been “pouring” over their texts to one another in the last couple of weeks, “laughing and crying then laughing again”.
“I’ll keep them forever and ever,” she said.
“I found one text that he sent me out of nowhere one day. It says it all.”
Aniston shared a photo of the text that showed Perry had messaged her a black and white photo of them together, where Aniston could be seen laughing.
The text from Perry read: “Making you laugh just made my day. It made my day.”
Ending her tribute, Aniston said: “Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain.”
She added: “Rest little brother. You always made my day…”
LeBlanc said “it was an honour to share the stage” with Perry whilst Cox said she was “grateful” for every moment she had with the actor.
LeBlanc and Cox gathered alongside castmates Schwimmer, Aniston and Lisa Kudrow for Perry’s funeral service at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park on November 3, according to US reports.
In a joint statement to US publication People, Perry’s fellow co-stars said they were “utterly devastated” and described their relationship as “more than just cast mates. We are a family”.
Los Angeles police had responded to a radio call just after 4pm on October 28 for a death investigation of a male in his 50s, the PA news agency understands.
A statement from Captain Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department to PA said they found a “male unconscious in a stand-alone Jacuzzi”.
