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.
The actress, 54; Lisa Kudrow, 60; Courteney Cox, 59; and David Schwimmer, 57, arrived as a quartet as they prepared to say their last goodbyes to Perry at Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles.
They were joined outside the church by fellow cast mate Matt LeBlanc, 56, while Perry’s tearful mother Suzanne Morrison, 84, and Dateline journalist stepfather Keith, 76, were in attendance, as was his father John Perry, 82.
Aniston was ‘one of the first to arrive’ at the ceremony on Friday, with an onlooker telling .com: ‘She kept herself to herself. This is a high profile gathering.’
Perry died aged 54 in an apparent drowning accident at his Pacific Palisades, California, home.
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
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
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.
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.
Jennifer Aniston (left), Courteney Cox (second left), David Schwimmer (center), Lisa Kudrow (second right) and Matt LeBlanc (far right) are seen on Friday at Matthew Perry’s funeral
Perry’s stepfather Keith Morrison, with the gray hair served as a pallbearer
Perry’s Friends co-stars said they were ‘devastated’ by his death and that they had been more like family than cast mates
Perry and Aniston had remained close friends years after Friends ended and up until his death
Just as Chandler and Rachel were never lovers despite both having plenty of other partners, neither were the actors who played them
‘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.’
The cemetery where Perry was laid to rest is opposite Warner Bros Studios, where Friends was filmed for 10 seasons, and is 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.
His funeral 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.’
The hearse carrying Matthew Perry’s body is pictured arriving at the cemetery on Friday
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
A van is seen arriving at the cemetery ahead of Perry’s funeral
Friends and family of Matthew Perry are seen arriving for the funeral on Friday
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 in a closed ceremony, while crowds of black-clad mourners stood around outside the church.
Some were seen embracing and comforting each other. Many wore dark sunglasses, to shield their eyes from the bright Californian sun.
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.
The hour-long ceremony was described as simple, concluding with a Peter Gabriel song
Heartfelt: Tributes were left outside Matthew Perry’s Los Angeles home, including Friends memorabilia
Tributes: Fans flocked to his house to leave floral tributes on the day of his private funeral service
Perry, 54, died last Saturday, leaving the show business world in shock
The church in Los Angeles has played host to a long line of celebrity funerals, from Stan Laurel’s to Carrie Fisher’s. It is unclear whether Perry indicated his final wishes
Initial toxicology tests did not show fentanyl or meth in Perry’s system, but more in-depth testing is underway. When police responded to Perry’s home (pictured) they found prescription medication that was properly labeled and stored
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.
Perry wrote in his memoir that he had spent $9 million trying to get sober
‘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.
Perry wrote at the beginning of his million-selling memoir: ‘Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.’
On Sunday, Perry’s book was ranked No. 1 on Amazon, supplanting Britney Spears’ memoir.
As he filmed the sitcom-hit Friends in the 90s, many people were unaware of the struggle Perry had with addiction and an intense desire to please audiences.
‘Friends was huge. I couldn’t jeopardize that. I loved the script. I loved my co-actors. I loved the scripts. I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame,’ he wrote in his memoir.
‘I had a secret and no one could know.
‘I felt like I was gonna die if the live audience didn’t laugh, and that’s not healthy for sure. But I could sometimes say a line and the audience wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and sometimes go into convulsions.’
Perry wrote: ‘If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place. I also knew of the six people making that show, only one of them was sick.’
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
Matthew Perry’s mother, Suzanne, and stepfather Keith Morrison are seen on Friday morning
The cast of the hit show got together for their long-awaited reunion in 2021 – 17 years after the series ended
Heartbroken Friends fans have flooded the internet with tributes to Matthew Perry’s close bond with co-star Jennifer Aniston following his untimely death
The deep love and closeness between the pair was evident over the years
Perry was consoled by his co-star during the tearful reunion with the cast in 2021
He recalled in his memoir that co-star Jennifer Aniston confronted him about being inebriated while filming.
‘I know you’re drinking,’ he remembered her telling him once.
‘We can smell it,’ she said, in what Perry called a ‘kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.’
A fellow member of Perry’s recovery program told .com in an exclusive interview Tuesday: ‘Matty wasn’t drinking. He was a big part of our AA community. He was attending meetings, speaking at meetings and was working with a handful of newcomers.
‘He had a sponsor and was a sponsor. He seemed to be doing well.’
The insider said the actor had been focused on helping others battling addiction and had recently expressed interest in sharing his story through public speaking events.
‘Matty said he wanted to return to universities and speak about alcoholism. That was his gift. He could speak so well and motivate people,’ the source added.
‘It was important for him to reach the younger generation and spread his Don’t Give Up message. He really lived by those words.’