Friends star Marlo Thomas recalls working with the late Matthew Perry: 'He had a very sweet smile'
Marlo Thomas has remembered how "appreciative" Matthew Perry was of his co-stars on 'Friends'', more than 30 years after she starred as Rachel Green's mother on the classic sitcom.
Marlo Thomas has remembered how "appreciative" Matthew Perry was of his co-stars on 'Friends'.
The 86-year-old actress played the mother of Jennifer Aniston's character Rachel Green on the classic NBC sitcom in the late 1990s and has now recalled that Matthew - who starred as Chandler Bing but was found dead in an apparent drowning in October at the age of 54 - was "so generous" to her and the others set.
She told E! News: "I noticed how appreciative he was of the other actors. And I remember when I did my very first scene, I walked into the coffee shop and he was sitting on the sofa, and he looked at me in a generous way. I could tell that he liked what I was doing. He gave that vibe off.
"He had a very sweet smile on his face, and that said to me, ‘I like what you're doing.' And I remember that very much. They were all very nice, but it's the one thing I remember specifically about him."
Matthew was laid to rest in November in a ceremony attended by Jennifer as well as his other co-stars Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow, although the 'Marley and Me' actress is said to have "kept to herself" throughout the proceedings.
An onlooker told DailyMail.com: "She was one of the first to arrive. She kept herself to herself. This is a high-profile gathering."
Matthew had suffered from addiction to alcohol and drugs throughout his life and another insider explained that Jennifer had really believed that his "worst days" were in the past and his passing as come as a "bitter body blow" to her.
The source said: "Nobody shed more tears for Matthew during the darkest points of his struggles with addiction than Jennifer. 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."
While it remains unclear exactly how the '17 Again' star died, the insider insisted that it is irrelevant whether it was a drowning accident or related to his addiction issues because Jennifer had been "dreading" the day for the past 20 years and had striven to help him in any way she could.
The insider added: "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. She always wanted to help Matthew any way she could – that was a constant for her."
