After Matthew Perry got candid about his time on Friends in the new memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, fans want to know how his co-stars from the sitcom feel about it. While the book mostly covers Matthew’s battle with addiction, which was in full swing while filming Friends from 1994 to 2004, the actor does give some insight into how it affected Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer. A source EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife that the co-stars knew about the tell-all before publishing and, much like their characters on the show, are sticking together and supporting each other!
“Even after all these years the cast still has a strong sense of loyalty to each other,” the Friends insider began. “Everyone’s been very supportive of Matthew, sharing his story. It was never going to be some tell all about their lives, it was always going to be about his journey through addiction and he made sure they knew that before it came out.”
The source went on to say that the group hopes to see more of Matthew socially, as they all love reuniting, and their co-star appears to be in a healthier space to hang out together. “They rarely get together as a group but now that Matthew is better, they’re all hopeful that he’ll socialize with them a little more, they care about him and they’re all rooting for him,” the source explained.
Matthew, who played Chandler Bing on the ratings juggernaut, had a few unsavory anecdotes of his alcohol and opiate addiction in the memoir, however, he spoke highly of his Friends’ friends whenever he mentioned them. He said Jennifer was most supportive throughout his addiction, David helped the cast negotiate their salaries together, including the $1M per episode paycheck, and called Lisa one of the “funniest people” he’s work with in Hollywood. She even wrote the forward to Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing.
“Lisa was honored to write the intro for Matthew’s book,” a second source EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife. “He is like family to her and she has witnessed everything that he went through in his life firsthand. She believes that he has a story that must be told and that, in doing so, he could potentially help save lives of others struggling with addiction and other related issues.” The source added that Lisa believes “everyone on the cast will read his memoir and she knows everyone will support him.”
To find out more about what Matthew said in the book, including his crush on Jennifer and why he dragged Keanu Reeves, click here.