Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon cover this week’s issue of Variety, part of a post-SAG-strike awards-season push for The Morning Show. I’ve never watched TMS – sometimes I’ll hear something interesting or see a good Nicole Beharie clip and I’m like “huh, maybe I should get into it,” but then I remember who the two leads are and I consistently pass on it. It also doesn’t help that this most recent season apparently featured a completely unhinged January 6th insurrection storyline in which a white woman protects her insurrectionist treason-bird brother. Way to frame an important story!
Anyway, if you want to read Aniston & Witherspoon talk about TMS, go here. The section which is getting the most attention is Jen Aniston speaking on the record for the first time about her friend Matthew Perry, following his October death. Aniston weeps openly as she talks about Perry, and Reese held her hand as Jen talked through it:
Jennifer Aniston wants the world to know that Matthew Perry was in a good place before his untimely death. In her first interview following the loss of her “Friends” co-star, Aniston told Variety she hopes Perry is remembered “as he said he’d love to be remembered” — a man who lived well and helped others.
“He was happy. He was healthy. He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy — that’s all I know,” she said, through tears. Next to her, Aniston’s “The Morning Show” co-star Reese Witherspoon held her hand as she wiped her tears. “I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.”
She continued, “I want people to know he was really healthy, and getting healthy. He was on a pursuit. He worked so hard. He really was dealt a tough one. I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard.”
Following his death, the cast, along with other actors and numerous reporters — myself included! — wrote about their experiences with Perry and how much his character, Chandler Bing, meant. Additionally, a foundation was founded in his name to help others struggling with addiction.
“It’s so beautiful,” Aniston said of the outpouring of love. “I hope he can know that he was loved in a way he never thought he was.”
Additionally, Aniston tried to find the words to describe Perry’s dialect, which became synonymous with Chandler Bing. “His way of speaking created a whole different world,” she said. “We went with his lead, in a way. It just added something to our joy.”
I really appreciate that she says this about how happy he was, how he was on the other side of his journey and he was finding peace and joy and health. There were so many theories, so many people suggesting that he relapsed or that he was still keeping secrets. I’m not sure which version is sadder though, although I’m sure his friends and fans want to remember him as he was in his final years – clean, happy, living an honest life, finding his peace.
IG courtesy of Variety, additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgird and Cover Images.
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- THE CAST OF FRIENDS ARRIVING TO THE HISTORIC LIVE TELECAST OF NBC’S 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION. STUDIO 8H AT ROCKEFELLER PLAZA IN NEW YORK. 05 MAY 2002,Image: 548463638, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dennis Van Tine / Avalon
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- Jennifer Aniston attends the Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s “Murder Mystery 2” at Regency Village Theatre on March 28, 2023 in Los Angeles, California,Image: 765843306, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Jennifer Aniston, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- New York, NY – Matthew Perry signs autographs as he leaves his hotel this afternoon in Tribeca. Pictured: Matthew Perry BACKGRID USA 1 NOVEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: BlayzenPhotos / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Pasadena, California – 01/12/03 – The 29th. Annual People’s Choice Awards at Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Pictured: Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow Photo by startraksphoto.com Featuring: Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow Where: New York, United States When: 31 Dec 2003 Credit: STARTRAKS PHOTOstartraksphoto.c
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- Celebrities At ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Featuring: Matthew Perry Where: New York, New York, United States When: 01 Nov 2022 Credit: ROGER WONG/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
I enjoyed MP as Chandler.
Read his book.
He spent the majority of his adult life trying to get sober, many, many serious health problems due to his drug use.
I wish his family had made a very large donation of his money to the foundation in his name. His estate was $80-120M. With $20 yearly residuals still coming in.
Instead upon announcing the Foundation, there was a “Donate” button.
Tacky, truly. Make a family donation of say, $20M, and then ask.
Each of the 6 cast members are wealthy, why not each donate $1M?
RIP Matthew. A talented, complex man who never seemed comfortable with himself.
TMS is amazing, and not liking the leads won’t impact your appreciation. RW isn’t fantastic, but JA is a damn revelation in this role. And Steve Carrell, wow, his performance in season 2 is shattering. Season 3 has its issues, but I still think it’s great. Billy Crudup gets better every season.
Yeah, TMS is one of the rare shows where I can forget that it’s [Insert Name] A-lister and see the actors as the characters. *See Leo DiCaprio in every single thing he has ever acted in except maybe Don’t Look Up. The TMS story is amazing and relevant and the acting is on-point. I haven’t seen Season 3 yet, though.
I thought this was a nice tribute to Matthew Perry. There’s something so devastating about someone who dies right as they are coming out of a sustained period of difficulty. But it’s maybe even more devastating if he died during his difficulties and never got to know a period of peace? I loved what she said about hoping he knows how much he was loved and how much he meant to his friends and fans.
I agree, I find it really entertaining, and I think Jennifer is excellent in the show. Some of the story lines are frustrating or annoying, but overall it’s a solidly entertaining show.
Completely agree. Steve Carrell was nothing short of amazing, and Jennifer Aniston and Reese have really shown they are great dramatic actresses. I agree – Billy Crudup is a revelation.
In regards to: “a white woman protects her insurrectionist treason-bird brother…” her brother is in recovery, got sober, got married, had a baby. He made a TERRIBLE judgment call on January 6th. In the last episode (SPOILER ALERT): He turns himself in and Reese’s character turns herself in as well.
Billy Crudup is the best thing about The Morning Show in my opinion. RW and JA may be the leads, but this is an ensemble show. I did not like season 2, but, overall, I think it’s a show worth watching.
Martin Short was really great in the first season. (I don’t know if he appears after that.)
His heart could have easily given out from the 30+years of drug and alcohol abuse. I know someone who died at 47 from a GI bleed from chronic alcoholism. These things do happen.
Andrea, very true.
The amounts of various drugs he took for years at a time, certainly damaged his organs.
Being put on the ECMO machine and surviving is very rare.
In his book, he says he was 1 of 5 people at the time on ECMO, with a 2% chance of surviving. Of the 5, only Matthew Perry did survive.
His body certainly was damaged, and aged by his decades of abuse.
So true, this is what I personally suspect. And, it is also sadly common that people who have been in substance abuse recovery for long spells, despite doing well and feeling happy, might encounter some social or environmental trigger that causes an unexpected relapse and overdose, perhaps using the same level of opioids as they had in the past without realizing that they don’t have the same tolerance they did before. Soon after he passed, I read an interview with a supposed past romantic partner who said that him staying in a hot tub for extended periods of time was associated for him with drug use.
I want to be able to get into The Morning Show because I feel like the supporting cast is filled with amazing folks, but I also can’t get past RW’s bad acting and JA’s increasingly frozen face — it’s so distracting.
Unless she saw him often and they were close, she may not be the best person to really know he was.
He had a massive crush on her for years and she rejected him. I doubt they were close.
I’ve never believed anything she says. She’s been blurring, putting an object in her face or has most of her hair covered in hair because her appearance has changed, and not for the better. I can’t watch her in TMS because I keep expecting her to break into song about all the products she shills and it looks like her mouth can’t move. Since she had a body double for We’re the Millers for the strip scene, and went on all the talk shows saying that Wanderlust was going to be full frontal (to get ratings) I highly doubt that she was in her birthday suit for her scenes with Jon Hamm. I guess I’m just tired of her thirst.