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Jennifer Aniston broke down in tears during an interview in 2004 over just “the idea of even losing” Matthew Perry while discussing her Friends co-star’s addiction demons.
And now the actress is reeling because her biggest fear has been realised.
“All five of the Friends cast are in real bad shape, but Jen’s by far taking this the worst,” a Hollywood insider tells Woman’s Day after the actor was found unresponsive in his backyard spa in Pacific Palisades, California, on 28 October.
“She’s torturing herself with each and every scenario where she could have done this or should have said that. She was one of the last people to speak to him and she’d planned on calling him on Sunday [the day after he died]. She’s been going over every word, but no one could have known.”
For Jen, says our insider, “the real pain is the fact she’s been with him almost every step of the way”. The 54-year-old felt she and Matthew had really celebrated a big triumph last year when his book Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir came out.
“She had huge hopes for a big comeback for Matthew and they were talking about working on a new script together. There was so much to look forward to, but even Jen knows it was his body that gave out, not Matthew.”
Having endured a life-long battle with addiction, Matthew admitted the actress, who he affectionately called “Jenny”, was the one who “reached out the most” during his substance abuse struggles. “You know, I’m really grateful to her for that,” he said last year.
Jen, he revealed, was also the one who initially confronted him during the filming of Friends when his troubles became evident to his castmates.
“She knows he wanted to live, which makes his premature death unbelievably cruel,” shares our insider. “He had so much more to give. She’s absolutely crushed and it will take her a long time to recover.
“She will never be convinced she didn’t do everything she could to save him, but she truly did. The world had Matthew Perry for a lot longer than expected thanks to Jen and [Friends co-star] Courteney Cox helping him through those dark times.”
Matt saod je was “reall grateful” to have Jen in his corner.
LEANING ON EACH OTHER
According to the insider, Courteney, 59, and fellow Friends star Lisa Kudrow, 60, have been rallying around Jen.
“They’re all in complete shock, but there are plans to meet up with Matt LeBlanc
and David Schwimmer as soon as possible,” says the source. “They’re going to be sitting down together for a remembrance dinner with some of the old crew.”
