Minnie Driver has opened up about her relationship with the late Matthew Perry as she paid tribute to the star in a heartfelt obituary.
The Friends star died from the ‘acute effects of ketamine’ and drowning after he was found face down in his hot tub on October 28.
Discussing her friendship with Matthew, who died aged 54, in an obituary for The Guardian, Minnie, 53, revealed that he was ‘like a light. He was one of those people who just made other people feel good.’
The pair worked together in the 2003 London production of David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago where their strong friendship began.
Eighteen months prior to Matthew’s death, he released tell-all memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing that included shocking details of his drug and alcohol addiction.
Minnie Driver, 53, has candidly spoken about her relationship with the late Matthew Perry in a heartfelt obituary: ‘He was like a light’
The pair worked together in the 2003 London production of David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago where their strong friendship began
Speaking about the actor’s addictions Minnie admitted she herself found the book hard to read.
She wrote: ‘It felt unbearable, how much he suffered. He had been in a good place when we were doing the play, but the thing about him was he was like a light.
‘He was one of those people who just made other people feel good. Somehow, they don’t suck you down into their sadness, or their pain, and I know now that his pain was great.’
During the pair’s time in London they enjoyed hanging out in Hyde Park in the sunshine, going to Wimbledon and Minnie event took him along to a friend’s wedding.
Known for his hilarious one liners as Chandler in Friends, Minnie added that he was one of the quickest and funniest people you would ever meet.
While he will forever been known for his role as Chandler, which defined his career, Minnie confessed he struggled with how closely identified he was with that role he loved, while he also wanted to explore other ventures.
‘Everything that we loved about Chandler was in there in Matthew, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. He was that funny, charming and self-deprecating, but also much more. He had such a wealth of soul,’ she added.
As well as Friends, the actor starred in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and the Scott Silveri sitcom Go On.
Minnie said: ‘He was one of those people who just made other people feel good. Somehow, they don’t suck you down into their sadness, or their pain, and I know now that his pain was great’
Eighteen months prior to Matthew’s death, he released a tell-all memoir that included shocking details of his drug and alcohol addiction, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing
Years after the play back in the early 2000s Minnie and Matthew would see each other in Malibu where they both lived.
Minnie last saw the star during his book tour, and expressed her happiness that the book allowed people to see the Matthew Perry outside of Friends.
Meanwhile George Clooney recently spoke about his longtime friend Matthew in a Deadline interview.
The actor and director revealed that he knew Perry since he was 16 and they were longtime friends.
He also admitted that Perry’s breakthrough hit sitcom Friends, ‘didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace.’
‘He wasn’t happy. It didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace,’ Clooney said during the interview, adding that getting on a sitcom was literally his biggest dream.
‘I knew Matt when he was 16 years old. We used to play paddle tennis together. He’s about 10 years younger than me. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid,’ Clooney said.
Known for his hilarious one liners as Chandler in Friends, Minnie added that he was one of the quickest and funniest people you would ever meet
George Clooney opened up earlier this month about his longtime friend Matthew Perry and his untimely and tragic death
‘We knew that that was the time slot that we knew we were going to have a year, anyway, if people liked to show. We were backstage and there were six of them and six of us,’ he added, referring to the casts of both shows being at the NBC upfront presentation in 1994
‘He was a kid and all he would say to us, I mean me, Richard Kind and Grant Heslov, was, I just want to get on a sitcom, man. I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I would be the happiest man on earth. And he got on probably one of the best ever,’ Clooney said.
Clooney and Perry both shot to fame at the same time, with both Clooney’s ER and Perry’s Friends debuting in 1994, both airing on Thursday nights, with Clooney adding they were, ‘side-by-side on the soundstage.’
‘And watching that go on on the lot — we were at Warner Brothers, we were there right next to each other — it was hard to watch because we didn’t know what was going through him,’ Clooney admitted.
‘We just knew that he wasn’t happy and I had no idea he was doing what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff,’ Clooney added, referring to Perry’s 2022 book Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
‘And it also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn’t just automatically bring you happiness. You have to be happy with yourself and your life,’ Clooney said.
