Jennifer Aniston is opening up about Matthew Perry’s death.

The actress, 56, said in a new interview that the “Friends” cast was already “mourning” their co-star before he died in October 2023 from a ketamine overdose.

“We did everything we could when we could,” Aniston told Vanity Fair in an interview published Monday. “But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight.”
Jennifer Aniston on the cover of Vanity Fair. Norman Jean Roy / Vanity Fair
Aniston in Vanity Fair. Norman Jean Roy / Vanity Fair
Aniston in Vanity Fair. Norman Jean Roy / Vanity Fair

“As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better,” Aniston admitted. “I’m glad he’s out of that pain.”

Perry, who starred in “Friends” alongside Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, battled addiction for decades before his death at 54.
Aniston and Matthew Perry at the 1995 NBC Fall Preview in New York City. Getty Images
The cast of “Friends.”

In his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry wrote that he attended about 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, went to rehab 15 times and estimated that he spent around $9 million trying to get sober.

Over the years, Perry’s co-stars spoke about how they tried to help him beat his addiction.

“Hard doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Kudrow, 62, told the New York Times in 2002. “When Matthew was sick, it was not fun. We were just hopelessly standing on the sidelines. We were hurting a lot.”
The “Friends” cast in 1999.

LeBlanc, 58, told People that same year: “I tried to talk to him. There wasn’t a response. It’s such a personal struggle; they need to bottom out on their own.”

In his memoir, Perry said that Aniston confronted him about his alcohol and drug problems on the “Friends” set.
Aniston and Perry at a film screening in 1995. Ron Davis
” ‘I know I’m drinking too much,’ I said, ‘but I don’t exactly know what to do about it,’ ” Perry wrote.

After Perry’s death, the “Friends” cast said in a joint statement they were “utterly devastated” by the “unfathomable loss.”

In her own own tribute, Aniston called Perry her “brother.”

Aniston and Perry in 2002. StarPix/Gamma
“This one has cut deep… Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before,” the “Morning Show” actress wrote in November 2023.

“We were always the 6 of us,” she added. “This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.”

Aniston, who attended Perry’s funeral with the rest of her co-stars, told Variety that she texted Perry the morning of his death.
Perry and Aniston at Lili Claire Foundation’s “Helping Kids Fly Higher” benefit. FilmMagic
“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. “He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling,” Aniston stated. “He was happy.”
The cast of “Friends.”
Perry was found dead in his hot tub at his Pacific Palisades, California, home on Oct. 28, 2023.

Authorities have arrested five people in relation to his death, including his longtime assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who has been accused of administering the ketamine shots that allegedly killed Perry.