Why Matthew Perry’s Death Was a ‘Warning Bell’ For His ‘Friends’ Costar Matt LeBlanc

The Chandler Bing to his Joey Tribbiani! Matthew Perry’s death hit the Friends cast hard, Matt LeBlanc especially. The 57-year-old actor penned a heartfelt tribute to his costar, 54, on Instagram shortly after he was laid to rest at L.A.’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park on Nov. 3, 2023. “It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye,” Matt captioned a carousel of photos taken of the pair over the course of the NBC sitcom’s 10-year run. “The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life. It was an honor to share the stage with you and to call you my friend. I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never.”

He’s done more than that. He’s turned the tragedy into an opportunity for growth. “The entire Friends cast was rattled by Matthew’s passing, but the biggest change has been in Matt,” a source tells Star. “This incredible loss has made him more sensitive and vulnerable, and it was a reminder that he’ll never have a connection with anyone else in Hollywood like he does with his costars” Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer. (A rep denies Star’s story.)

Tense Times

For years, Matt was known as the grumpiest cast member on Friends. “He was always a bit of an outsider in that group and almost never socialized off-camera,” says the source. (In a 2017 interview with Conan O’Brien, he revealed his preferred activity, saying, “I would like to do not a f**king thing, that’s what I would like to do. Just nothing, absolutely nothing, zero.”) The rift grew in 2003 when it was announced that Matt would be getting his own spinoff show. “By the time Friends ended, the other cast members were done with it. They were ready for something else,” the source explains. “The fact that Matt agreed to do a spinoff called Joey was puzzling to them.” Especially since, in the early days of Friends, one of the things Matt and his costars had all agreed on was a “‘one for all and all for one’ mentality,” notes the source. “They stuck together in negotiations as equals. No one was the bigger star. Then, here was Matt going off on his own, obviously thinking he could be a breakaway star.”

Joey followed the former soap star from NYC to L.A., where he lived with his sister Gina (Drea de Matteo) and nephew Michael (Paulo Costanzo) while trying to make it in Hollywood. However, the series failed to find the success that Friends had, premiering in 2004 to a critical drubbing. The Globe and Mail’s John Doyle, for one, called it “lame, hollow and utterly unoriginal.” After just two seasons, it was canceled. “Matt really thought he had the edge to make it work, but Joey turned out to be a flop,” the source says. “It was a failure Matt couldn’t live down.” So much so, “it made him wary and even grouchy to Friends enthusiasts he would meet out in public,” reveals the source, adding that it also put even more distance between him and his former costars. “It made him not want to face the other cast members.”

Cherished Memories

Then, in 2021, the cast of Friends reunited for a much-anticipated HBO Max special celebrating the show. “It was like turning a corner for Matt. These people he’d been avoiding for so many years because of his own wounded pride over Joey, it turned out he’d really missed them,” says the source. “They were his friends and only they could know what he’d really been through.” Even Jen Aniston, 56, was surprised to see “Mr. Tough Guy” Matt, as she called him in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “[get] a little misty” at the taping. “Matt softened up … and that went a long way toward rebuilding his relationship with the rest of the gang,” the source says. “But Matthew’s death is what hit him like a bucket of cold water.”

On Oct. 28, 2023, Matthew was found dead at his L.A. home of an apparent drowning. Later, it was revealed that the actor had secretly relapsed and died from the acute effects of ketamine. “It was the warning bell that life is short, and [Matt] needed to make a bigger effort to stay in touch with these people,” shares the source. It was an incredible loss but one that the Friends cast got through together. “Matt does consider them family, now more than ever,” says the source. “They really mean a lot to him, and he’ll never take them for granted again.”