Friends star Lisa Kudrow says Matthew Perry's death left cast 'shook up' as she admits group only met up once between finale and reunion

The actress, who starred in Friends as the eccentric Phoebe Buffay, said that her and her co-stars - Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston - were “shook up” after the death of their former castmate. Perry died on October 28, 2023 aged 54 from the “acute effects of ketamine”.

Speaking to Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson on his podcast ‘Dinner’s On Me’, Kudrow said: “It shook us up, I have to say. He (Perry) said it won’t be a surprise, but it will be a shock, and that was exactly right.

“So smart, that is true – it wasn’t a surprise, but it was a shock. It was a big jolt.

She added: “Personally, I think he died happy. I think in the days around his passing, I think he was happy and excited about what’s happening next.”

Kudrow also revealed that between the 2004 finale and the 2021 Friends reunion special, the group as a whole met up only once, telling Ferguson that they “didn’t miss a beat”. She said: “We only had dinner, the six of us, once before, since the show had ended.

Meeting a decade after they wrapped the show, Kudrow added: “It was so great that it was like ‘we should do this more’.”

The actress said that following Perry’s death, she was inspired to go back and watch old episodes of the sitcom in an attempt to aid the grieving process. She said: “Schwimmer was hilarious, Matt LeBlanc was making me laugh out loud, Jennifer, come on, she’s so good, look what she just did.

“And Courteney, oh my God you’re hilarious, how did you never get nominated for an Emmy. And Matthew, of course, at the time he was blowing me away.”

She admitted that there are still “episodes I’ve never seen”, telling the podcast host that there is “a certain amount of anxiety around watching it”. Kudrow explained: “I’m afraid of what my takeaway is going to be.

“When Phoebe got married and she’s walking down the aisle and has this huge smile on her face, I teared up because she was so happy, she was so honestly happy. It was really touching to me, she deserves to be this happy.”