Jennifer Aniston was a longtime companion of Matthew Perry.

Last year, the actor, who died on Saturday at the age of 54, talked up how his Friends co-star, 54, maintained regular contact with him during his drug battles and sober journey.

“She was the one who made the greatest efforts. “You know, I’m really grateful to her for that,” Perry remarked of Aniston in an interview with Diane Sawyer in October 2022.

Perry also stated that Aniston confronted him when his addiction became apparent to his castmates when they were filming the famous comedy.

“Jennifer, she says, ‘We know you’re drinking,'” During the interview, Sawyer prodded him.

“Yeah, imagine how terrifying that was,” Perry said.

“I should have been the toast of the town, but I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone,” he later explained of his addiction gripping him during the height of his TV career.

Perry revealed to people in 2022 that during his friend’s reign, he was taking up to 55 Vicodin tablets every day, and his weight had dropped to 128 pounds.

“I didn’t know how to stop,” he said. “If the cops showed up at my door and said, ‘If you drink tonight, we’re going to take you to jail,’ I’d start packing.” I couldn’t give up since the sickness and addiction are both progressing. As a result, it just gets worse as you get older.”

While Perry said he tried to hide the indications of his spiraling addiction from Aniston and his other co-stars, they all realized he was hurting and sought to help him.

“They were understanding, and they were patient,” he said. “It’s similar to penguins.” In nature, when one penguin becomes ill or injured, the other penguins surround and support it. They circle it until the penguin can walk on its own. That’s something the cast did for me.”

Perry told people that he hoped to keep going by relying on his distinctive wit and his coveted spot on the show.

“I thought being funny all the time was how I would get through,” he went on to say. “I thought [friends] would fix everything.” It didn’t work.”

When Perry was eventually able to become clean, he expressed his gratitude for being on the other side of his addiction. “I’m a very grateful man.” To be sure, I’m thankful to be alive. And it gives me the freedom to do anything I want,” he explained.

In retrospect, Perry says the horrible moments he went through—including nearly dying at 49 when his intestines burst due to opiate misuse—made him stronger “in every way.”

“My resilience has surprised me the most.” “This is how I’m going to recover from all of this torture and awfulness,” he told people.

In order to be the type of lifeline for others that Aniston was to him, he chose to tell his highly personal tale in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

“I think they’ll be surprised at how bad it got at certain times and how close to dying I came,” he said of the rawness of the situations he wrote about.

“I mention in the book that if I died, it would surprise people, but nobody would be surprised. And that’s a terrifying thing to live with,” he went on. “My hope is that people will relate to it and realize that this disease affects everyone.” It doesn’t matter if you’re successful or not; the sickness doesn’t care.”