30th anniversary of “Friends” after Matthew Perry’s death “tense”: creators

The 30th anniversary of Friends on Sunday, September 22, fans and cast members of the series are still mourning the loss of star Matthew Perry, who died less than a year ago from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine. Recently, new information has emerged about Perry’s ketamine use in his final days, as those who allegedly helped him obtain the drug have been arrested and charged.

And the creators of the hit NBC sitcom, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, as well as executive producer Kevin S. Bright, are aware of the large shadow Perry’s death casts on an otherwise celebratory occasion.

“It’s a big loss and makes the 30th anniversary a little tense,” Kauffman said in an interview with Crane and Bright that aired Friday. Today Show, and Bright added, “He made us laugh every day.”

Looking back on Perry’s high-profile battle with addiction and how he seemed to be getting better in the years before his death, Bright said, “He had fought for the cause for so long, and it really felt like he was there from the beginning. [2021 cast] Goodbye, that he had finally found some peace.”

Shortly after Perry’s death, when those who Friends Star paid tribute to him, Kauffman said Today She said she spoke to him two weeks before Perry’s death and the actor was “happy and cheerful. He didn’t seem to be bothered by anything. He was doing really well, which is why this seems so unfair.”

“He seemed better than I’d seen him in a long time,” she said at the time. “I was so excited to see that. He was doing well emotionally. He looked good. He had quit smoking. Yes, he was sober. He learned things along the way and what he learned more than anything is that he wants to help other addicts and that gave him a sense of purpose.”

Over the summer, however, five people were charged and indicted in the investigation into Perry’s death, which revealed a “broad-based underground criminal network.”

In a separate interview on the occasion of the anniversary for the British JustHowever, during the interview, which was conducted before the recent wave of arrests in connection with Perry’s death, Kauffman and Crane discussed Perry’s struggle with addiction.

“By the time we found out, we were already a family on many levels,” Crane said. “At some point we said to him, ‘Do you want to stop [being in the show]?’ And he said categorically: ‘No, this is really important to me.'”

Kaufmann, meanwhile, repeated what she said Today When she spoke to Perry via FaceTime last year “about two weeks before” his death, when he “seemed really good,” she talked about how much she hoped fans would remember one of the show’s most popular stars.

“Two things come to mind [about how to celebrate him]: One is to donate to drug treatment centers – let’s fight the disease,” she said. “And the second option is to watch Friends and remember him not as a man who died this way, but as a man who was incredibly funny and brought joy to everyone.”