Five ‘Friends’ Cast Members Held Hands at Perry’s 2023 Funeral

By Daniel Okafor

Five “Friends” cast members walked to Matthew Perry’s casket holding hands and cried at his 2023 funeral, Mia Perry Bowick said in Netflix’s documentary “The One About Matthew Perry.”

“And then, all five of them walked up to the casket holding hands and stood around him, crying,” Bowick said.

Mary Robertson’s three-part documentary debuted Oct. 27. The film reveals new details about Perry’s life and death through family testimony, production history and his own recorded comments.

What did Perry’s rehab mean for “Friends”?

Roger Costillo, one of Perry’s best friends, said “Friends” production paused in 2001 while Perry entered rehabilitation (rehab), a period he later described to Larry King as requiring absolute sobriety.

“They had to shut down production for a while until Matt worked out what he had going on,” Costillo said.

Perry’s sister, Mia Perry Bowick, described the pressure surrounding that decision. “There was an incredible amount of shame and guilt that came along with that, because he knew how many people were working on these shows, that their livelihood was dependent on it. He hated that he had to do that to people, but he also knew that he had to get well,” Bowick said.

Costillo’s account exposes the awkward dependence of a large production on one actor’s private condition. The ensemble’s continuity depended on Perry finding his footing.

The documentary also includes a 2002 clip of Perry discussing rehab in an interview with Larry King. He said: “I needed to focus on nothing but sobriety.”

He added: “‘Friends’ producers, I asked them for the most time that they could give me. Not even guaranteeing that I’d be back. They shot around me. The three executive producers are wonderful.”

How did addiction shape the Season 7 finale?

Season 6 ended with Chandler proposing to Monica, played by Courteney Cox, and the documentary says Season 7 premiered five months later, with Perry noticeably thinner.

In his memoir, Perry used his changing weight as a barometer for addiction. “You can track the trajectory of my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season — when I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills.”

Bowick said Perry commuted back and forth from rehab in Malibu to the “Friends” set during Season 7, so he could be there for Chandler and Monica’s wedding, which served as the finale.

“Both sides of the family came to the filming to watch them get married. It was a really big deal, because we’re all worried about him. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. To try to navigate relationships while also battling this crippling addiction is, I would say, near impossible,” Bowick said.

Bowick continued: “So I think the unspoken truth that we all were sitting with in some way or another was, ‘Is this his wedding?’ I was on set, and I remember watching Monica walk down the aisle, and when Matthew said his vows to her, the emotion in his eyes, everything was so real.”

The wedding remained a fictional event with real stakes, in her account. “He and Courteney had such a lovely relationship, and years working through this thing that there was so clearly actual love there — platonic love, but love. It’s a happy memory, mixed with some sadness,” Bowick said.

What happened at the 2023 funeral?

In the final episode, Bowick recalled seeing Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc at Perry’s funeral in 2023.

She said the family arranged an open casket (a coffin left open for viewing) for a little while. The funeral itself was very small, comprising close friends and family.

“At the funeral, we arranged for just the family to have it be open casket for a little while for all of us. The funeral was very small — close friends and family,” Bowick said.

“The rest of the ‘Friends’ cast all walked in together. I hadn’t seen them in easily 20 years. Jen Aniston was the first one of them to come up to me and give me a huge hug. But they all did,” Bowick said.

The documentary ends with the five actors gathered around Perry, their linked hands replacing the professional ensemble work that had defined the television series.

Future accounts of “Friends” now have to hold three moments together: the 2001 production shutdown, Perry’s Malibu rehab commute and the cast’s arrival at his casket in 2023. The documentary makes that chronology impossible to tidy.