The late Matthew Perry’s bond with Jennifer Aniston, did they date, and when was the Friends Reunion?

At the time of writing, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, had yet to comment on the passing of their friend and co-star Matthew Perry. Whilst discussing the actor with my colleague Benjamin Jackson, he pointed out that they might still be ‘processing’ the news, and I am in no doubt that he is correct. Losing a colleague is of course incredibly difficult but when that colleague is also a friend who you have worked with for many years, the shock can of course prevent someone from sitting down to formulate via social media how they feel about it.

It is important to remember that Friends aired for an incredible 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 so it was a huge part of all of their lives. On the Instagram for Friends, is a tribute that reads: “We are devastated to learn of Matthew Perry’s passing. He was a true gift to us all. Our heart goes out to his family, loved ones, and all of his fans.”

 Matthew Perry, along with Jennifer, Courteney, Lisa, Matt and David returned for Friends: The Reunion special in 2021. Matthew was clearly incredibly emotional during the special and revealed that “The best way that I can describe it is after the show was over, at a party or any kind of social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other, that was it. That was the end of the night. You just sat with the person all night long and that was it.” He went on to say “You apologised to the people you were with, but they had to understand you had met somebody special to you and you were going to talk to that person for the rest of the night. And that’s the way it worked.”

These comments by Matthew Perry on the Friends special made Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox cry and it is easy to see why. The group of actors had an unbreakable bond long after filming had stopped. It is believed that Matthew had a special bond in particular with Jennifer Aniston and he revealed to ABC’s Diane Sawyer in 2022 that “She was the one that reached out the most.” 

What did Matthew Perry reveal in his autobiography ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing?

Matthew Perry revealed in his autobiography that Jennifer Anniston said: “I know you’re drinking.” He revealed that “To be confronted by Jennifer Aniston was devastating. And I was confused. ‘How can you tell? I said. I never worked drunk. ‘I’ve been trying to hide it.’

Matthew Perry wrote that Jennifer Aniston's reply was “We can smell it,’ she said, in a kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.” Matthew Perry also revealed that he had once asked Jennifer Aniston out and said: “She declined (which made it very difficult to actually go out with her), but said that she’d love to be friends with me, and I compounded the compound by blurting, ‘We can't be friends!”