Matthew Perry is telling all in his new memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, including what his relationship is really like with his Friends co-stars, both on and off-screen.
Perry Says ‘Friends’ Co-Stars Were ‘Understanding’ Of His Addiction Struggles
Perry struggled with drug and alcohol addiction the entire time he was on Friends and beyond. At his worst, the actor revealed he was taking 55 Vicodin a day. Perry would also often show up to work intoxicated or high.
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Some might think his co-stars would be upset that he was jeopardizing their show like this, but Perry insisted his co-stars were always on his side. “They were understanding, and they were patient,” he told People.
“It’s like penguins,” Perry went on. “In nature, when one is sick or very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up and walk around until that penguin can walk on its own. And that’s kind of what the cast did for me.”
His Crush On Jennifer Aniston
Perry also spoke about his relationship with Jennifer Aniston. While the two worked on Friends, the actor admitted he had a crush on her. The pair were friendly before they both got cast in Friends and Perry even asked her out.
“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!'” Perry wrote in his memoir.
The crush continued once they started working together on the sitcom. “Our hellos and goodbyes became awkward. And then I’d ask myself, ‘How long can I look at her? Is three seconds too long?'” the actor said. She wasn’t the only co-star Perry was interested in—he also admitted to crushing on Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox.
Perry Calls Aniston ‘The Greatest’
Even though they never dated, he and Aniston stayed close and Perry shared that the actress frequently reached out to him while he was working on staying sober. “She was the one that reached out the most,” he explained. “You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”
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“She’s terrific,” he said in another interview with Access Hollywood (via People). “We don’t see each other as much. I wish the group would see each other more times, but she’s the greatest.”
Aniston and the rest of the cast of Friends were a great support for Perry during his struggles with addiction, and it looks like the group is just as close as ever.