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‘He was so easy to love’: Matthew Perry's Friends co-star Jessica Hecht remembers late actor fondly
Jessica Hecht said Matthew Perry “was kinder to other people [than himself], as many people are who suffer from addiction and all of that"
Friends star Jessica Hecht recently remembered her late co-star Matthew Perry affectionately. “He was so silly when he was young, and he was so easy to love,” the actress told Page Six at Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2023 Fall Gala.
Jessica played Susan Bunch, the wife of Ross Geller’s ex Carol Willick, in Friends. She revealed that her favourite episode of the NBC sitcom was Season 2’s The One With the Breast Milk. In this episode, Ross (David Schwimmer) and Chandler Bing (Perry) were disgusted by Carol (Jane Sibbett) breastfeeding. “His [Perry’s] was the silliest attempt to taste the breast milk,” Jessica said. “I just remember how kind he was and how he tried to make everyone else at ease.”
Jessica also said that Perry “was kinder to other people [than himself], as many people are who suffer from addiction and all of that — just desperate for other people to be relieved from the pain that they feel.”
Perry died by apparent drowning on Saturday, October 28. He was discovered dead in the hot tub of his home in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood just after 4 pm. Initial toxicology reports came up negative for meth or fentanyl. His cause of death is still “deferred,” according to reports.
Perry had reportedly planned to continue to help people suffering from substance abuse before his death. In fact, the actor was planning to build a foundation to assist people with addiction issues, according to PEOPLE. He had earlier founded Perry House, a men’s sober living facility. It ran for two years.
During his life, Perry had a long struggle with addiction. He had later also opened up about his subsequent journey to sobriety. He revealed in October 2022 that he almost died at 49 due to his increasing drug addiction, and was in coma for two weeks, fighting for his life. This was followed by a stay in the hospital for five months, as well as a year using a colostomy bag after his colon burst from opioid overuse.
