Matthew Perry’s Friends co-stars did not attend the second half of the actor’s funeral services, according to an insider.
Jennifer Aniston, 54; Lisa Kudrow, 60; Courteney Cox, 59; and David Schwimmer, 57, arrived as a quartet – all dressed in black suits and somber as they prepared to say their last goodbyes to Perry, 54, at Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles.
They were joined outside the church after the simple hour-long ceremony by Matt LeBlanc, 56, and were pictured in conversation with other well wishers.
But an insider told .com that the cast did not attend the second half of their ‘family-like’ friend’s funeral services.
The insider said: ‘The Friends cast did not attend the second half of the services which took place further up from the church at The Courts of Remembrance which is made up of several open air courtyards.
‘It’s a special, more secluded area. More private. That part was only attended by Matthew’s family and closest friends. Less than 20 people.
Jennifer Aniston (at the back), Courteney Cox and David Schwimmer (center) and Lisa Kudrow (front) are seen on Friday at Forest Lawn Church of the Hills, in Los Angeles
Perry’s Friends co-stars said they were ‘devastated’ by his death and that they had been more like family than cast mates
The three women of Friends and David Schwimmer are seen entering the church to attend Matthew Perry’s funeral on Friday
‘There were about another 20 at the first part of the services. It was very intimate.
‘After the services, friends left while his family and few others took a car up to the area where the coffin was taken and then carried into The Courts of Remembrance.’
His tearful mother Suzanne Morrison, 84, and Dateline journalist stepfather Keith, 76, were both at the private event, as was his father John Perry, 82, Keith Morrison was one of the pallbearers.
The cemetery where Perry has been buried is opposite Warner Bros Studios, where Friends was filmed for 10 seasons.
It is also the final resting place of a galaxy of Hollywood stars – among them Carrie Fisher, Bette Davis, Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton, INXS frontman Michael Hutchence and Anne Heche.
The service ended with a rendition of Peter Gabriel song ‘Don’t Give Up’ which includes the lyrics: ‘No fight left or so it seems, I am a man whose dreams have all deserted, I’ve changed my face, I’ve changed my name, But no one wants you when you lose.’
Perry’s coffin is pictured being carried into the church on Friday
The 54-year-old’s stepfather Keith Morrison was one of seven people to carry the casket
An onlooker told .com: ‘There was not a dry eye in there. There were a lot of tears and laughter. Only close friends and family spoke.’
After the service, Perry was buried in a dark wooden coffin. Crowds of black-clad mourners stood around outside the church after the ceremony.
Some were seen embracing and comforting each other. Many wore dark sunglasses, to shield their eyes from the bright Californian sun.
‘Ms Aniston was one of the first to arrive. She kept herself to herself. This is a high profile gathering,’ the onlooker further told .com.
Aniston and Perry – born just six months apart – were the youngest of the six Friends and as such stuck up an immediate camaraderie when the show first started shooting in 1994.
He wrote in his 2022 memoir ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing’ that they had first met three years before Friends started and he tried to date her but she turned him down.
Perry and Aniston had remained close friends years after Friends ended and up until his death
Jennifer Aniston was ‘one of the first to arrive’ at her Friends co-star Matthew Perry ‘s funeral – but ‘kept herself to herself’ throughout the simple, hour-long ceremony
But this early rejection didn’t stop Aniston and Perry from forming a close friendship during the 10 years they spent together on the set of Friends – with Aniston supporting him through his battle with drug addiction.
‘Nobody shed more tears for Matthew during the darkest points of his struggles with addiction than Jennifer,’ one close friend of the actress told .com.
‘There was speculation at the time of the 2021 Friends reunion that Matthew wouldn’t be a part of it because his demons had gotten the better of him. But Jennifer absolutely wouldn’t have done it without him.
‘He put in the work and made it a success even though he seemed frail.
‘But Jennifer genuinely thought his worst days were behind him. So his death just two years later has come as a bitter body blow to her.
‘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,’ added the friend.
‘She always wanted to help Matthew any way she could – that was a constant for her.’
Just as Chandler and Rachel were never lovers despite both having plenty of other partners, neither were the actors who played them
Throughout his life, Perry had been open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol
After an initial investigation, the Los Angeles County coroner has deferred giving a cause of death, which may take weeks to determine. Those who knew him maintain that Perry was clean and sober at the time of his death
Throughout his life, Perry had been open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol.
The common narcotics were not found in Perry’s system during initial tests, according to a TMZ report. But more in-depth testing is underway and would show if the beloved actor had any prescription medication in his system.
When investigators responded to Perry’s home, they did not find any illegal drugs, but found prescription medication that was properly labeled and kept in storage bottles.
In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry wrote that after his colon exploded in 2018, he was prescribed opiates that he deemed insufficient to deal with his pain, prompting him to turn to street dealers to supply him with potentially fentanyl-laced OxyContin.
‘The street pills were something like $75 per pill, so I was giving the guy $3,000 at a time, many times a week,’ he wrote.
After an initial investigation, the Los Angeles County coroner has deferred giving a cause of death, which may take weeks to determine. Those who knew him maintain that Perry was clean and sober at the time of his death.