Matthew Perry was one of those few kind-hearted people who would go to extremes just to help someone else when he himself needed help. And that’s just what he did with one of his FRIENDS co-stars who was trapped in a somewhat similar position as him: Hank Azaria.
As shared by the comedian in his tribute video to Perry, the Chandler Bing portrayer helped Azaria go cold turkey years before recently passing away a tragic death at the age of mere 54 years, leaving his fans from all around the globe devastated.
Matthew Perry Helped Friends Co-Star Hank Azaria Get Sober
During a recent tribute video posted on Instagram, Hank Azaria, who played one of Matthew Perry’s co-stars in FRIENDS, shared how the Chandler Bing player helped him get sober.
“I’ve been a sober guy for seventeen years. I wanna say that the night I went into AA, Matthew brought me in. The whole first year I was sober, we went to meetings together. And he was such a great [person]. I got to tell him this, as a sober person, he was so caring and giving and wise, and he totally helped me get sober.”
He then mentioned how the late actor was just as funny in real life as he was on the big screen.
“He was, to me, as funniest as he was on Friends [in real life] and he was [funny] in other things too. In-person, he was just the funniest man I’ve ever [met]. He just lived to laugh. Most nights I spent with Matthew, crying-laughing by the end.”
Azaria then went on to share how heartbroken he was while reading his autobiography that was released last year, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
“I really loved him. A lot of us who were close to him felt like we lost him to drugs and alcohol a long time ago because – as he documented in his autobiography – there was so much suffering. I had to pick up and put down that biography, like, 11 times, it was so painful for me to read.”
Not only did Matthew Perry help him get sober, but he also left a lasting indelible impression on his Friends co-star, Hank Azaria’s heart that can never be erased.
Also Read: Matthew Perry Once Refused to Be Friends With Jennifer Aniston in Real Life
Hank Azaria Considered Matthew Perry His ‘Brother’
During the same tribute video, Hank Azaria then went on to share how he became friends with Perry.
“Matthew Perry was the first friend I made in Los Angeles. When I moved there, I was 21; he was 16. We did a pilot together called ‘Morning Maggie’ that never saw the light of day, but Matthew and I became really good friends. We were really more like brothers for a long time. We drank a lot together. We laughed a lot together. We were there for each other in the early days of our career.”
Continuing, he let out how much he misses his now-deceased close friend.
“I really wish he could’ve found it in himself to stay with the sober life more consistently. I mean, I knew he’d gone in and out for years, he documented it all publicly, and then in the book. But it’s heartbreaking, for those of us who loved him and knew him really well, personally. We just missed him. It’s one of the terrible things about this disease, is it just takes away the person you love.”
Concluding his tribute for the late actor, Azaria shared:
“Professionally, as an actor, he was so brilliant, I just wish we – the world – I and the world – could have gotten what the rest of his career would’ve been.”
That is most certainly the most devastating and heartbreaking part about Matthew Perry’s sudden tragic death. May his soul rest in peace.
