Jennifer Aniston Tears Up Talking About ‘Friends’ After Matthew Perry’s Death

Jennifer Aniston was overcome with emotion talking about “Friends” in the wake of co-star Matthew Perry’s death.

Aniston sat down with Quinta Brunson for Variety’s Actors on Actors conversation when a producer interjected, asking Quinta to ask Jen what it is like watching “Friends” now, as the show turns 30.

Jennifer choked up, saying, “Oh, God, don’t make me cry.”

Quinta said, “I won’t… We won’t make each other cry,” before pointing out, “But you’re already crying. Do you want a minute? We don’t have to talk…”

Aniston told her, “I just started thinking about…” as Brunson tells her, “I know.”

Jen insisted, “I’m okay,” telling her, “It’s happy tears.”

Someone brought Aniston a tissue, and she dabbed at her eyes, gaining her composure and telling Quinta, “And we’re back.”

As they got back on track, Jen brought some levity to the conversation.

Brunson said, “‘Friends’ is turning 30.”

Jen, 55, joked, “And I’m turning 30… what a coincidence.”

The “Abbott Elementary” star replied, “Isn’t that wild? When you were a baby on that show, you were so advanced. Your fine motor skills were insane.”

Jen told her, “I was an old soul.”

Quinta praised the series, saying, “It continues to be one of the best shows on television. How does it feel?”

Aniston said, “It’s so strange to even think that it’s 30 years old. Because I remember the day that it was going to premiere on television, on NBC: Matthew Perry and I were having lunch somewhere, and we knew Lisa was getting her hair colored. So, we ran into the hair salon, and I snuck up — she was in the sink — and I took the nozzle from the guy that was supposed to be doing it and just started washing her hair. It definitely flew out of control, and that was unfortunate. But the excitement we had, it feels like yesterday.”

Aniston went on, “The fact that it’s had this long, wonderful life and it still means a lot to people is one of the greatest gifts I think all five of us — all six of us — we never could imagine. And we see each other. I talked on FaceTime with Court last night for an hour, and Lisa and the boys, and we just have a really — it’s a family forever.”

Perry, 54, died unexpectedly on October 28. According to a Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office toxicology report obtained by TMZ, Perry died from “the acute effects of ketamine,” which caused cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression.

Following his death, Aniston posted a tribute to Perry, a text exchange between the two, as well as an emotional scene they shared on “Friends.”

Aniston wrote, “Oh boy 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.”

She continued, “We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply. He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.”

Jennifer said, “For Matty, he KNEW he loved to make people laugh. As he said himself, if he didn’t hear the ‘laugh’ he thought he was going to die. His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard.”

Aniston said she had been “poring over texts to one another” that left her “laughing and crying then laughing again.”

She vowed, “I’ll keep them forever and ever. I found one text that he sent me out of nowhere one day. It says it all.”

The text, which she shared on the next slide, included a photo of them laughing together and included Perry’s message, “Making you laugh just made my day. It made my day.” She responded, “The first of THOUSANDS of times.”

Jennifer concluded her message with, “Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain. I talk to you every day… sometimes I can almost hear you saying ‘could you BE any crazier?’”

She signed off, “Rest little brother. You always made my day…”

The clip Aniston included is Chandler trying to say goodbye to Rachel, and he tells her he loves her and is going to miss her. As their characters get teary-eyed and hug, Chandler lightens the mood with a joke. Watch it here.