Netflix’s new three-part documentary “The One About Matthew Perry”, which debuted on October 27, has revealed one of the most moving moments from the late Friends star’s private funeral: his five surviving co-stars entering together, holding hands, and crying around his casket.
Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing (Credits: Variety / Netflix)
The account comes from Perry’s younger sister, Mia Perry Bowick, who speaks on camera about her brother for the first time in director Mary Robertson’s documentary. Bowick is the only member of Perry’s family to appear in the series.
Friends Cast Held Hands Around Matthew Perry’s Casket
Bowick recalled that she had not seen her brother’s former co-stars in more than 20 years before they reunited at the funeral. Jennifer Aniston came over first and gave her a huge hug, and the other cast members followed.
“And then, all five of them walked up to the casket holding hands and stood around him, crying,” Bowick said, describing Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc standing together in grief.
The funeral itself was small and private, held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles on November 3, 2023, for family and close friends only, following Perry’s death on October 28, 2023, aged 54.
Why the Friends Cast Do Not Appear in the Documentary
Despite the emotional funeral account, the five Friends actors do not appear in the documentary itself. Robertson has said they were invited to take part but chose not to, a decision she said she respected.
“I think everyone grieves in their own way. And I understand why someone might feel that this isn’t the moment to talk,” she said, adding that she recognised their love for Perry and their grief over his death. The actors do appear through archival footage from the sitcom, which ran from 1994 to 2004.
The documentary also revisits Perry’s struggles with addiction. His friend Roger Costillo recalls that production on Friends paused in 2001 while Perry entered rehab, saying the show had to shut down for a while until Perry worked out what he had going on.
Bowick also shared a stranger, more personal memory from the funeral: feeling her brother behind her right shoulder, as if asking how messed up the moment was — and laughing, despite herself, because it sounded so much like him. Robertson called the account wrenching and harrowing, and true to Perry’s lived experience.
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Source: Variety — read the full story there.
