Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry attend the 1995 NBC Fall Preview at the Lincoln Center in New York.
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Jennifer Aniston knows far too well how difficult it is to deal with friends facing addiction. In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the actress shared that she felt like she was mourning the late Matthew Perry long before he died following his battle with addiction and mental health issues.
“We did everything we could when we could,” said Aniston. “But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight.”
She added, “As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better. I’m glad he’s out of that pain.”
Perry died in October 2023 at age 54 from the acute effects of ketamine.
During an “Actors on Actors” conversation with Reese Witherspoon for Variety in 2023, Aniston shared that she had been talking with Perry over text the day he died.
“As he said he’d love to be remembered. He was happy. He was healthy. He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape,” Aniston told Witherspoon. “He was happy — that’s all I know. I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.”
Aniston also shared an Instagram tribute to Perry a few weeks after his death, writing that saying goodbye to him was “an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before.”
“We loved him deeply. He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us,” she wrote, referring to her Friends co-stars. “This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.”
Last month, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, a doctor charged in connection with the actor’s death, pleaded guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine. The charges carry a total maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison. His sentencing is set for Dec. 3.
Officials said Perry “became addicted” to intravenous ketamine while seeking treatment for depression and anxiety at a local clinic in fall 2023. They said Perry turned to the four suppliers charged in the case when the clinic refused to increase his dosage.
From Rolling Stone US.
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