LOS ANGELES:
Over hundreds of ‘Friends’ fans braved the rains in Manhattan to honour actor Mathew Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the sitcom, by gathering outside the iconic show’s apartments.
According to Variety, people of all ages and backgrounds gathered on Sunday by the ‘Friends’ building in New York’s West Village to pay their respects to Perry and pose for pictures outside of the show’s iconic apartment.
Despite the dreary weather, dozens of flower bouquets and handmade signs with phrases like “the one where we all lost a friend” were piled on the southwest corner of Bedford and Grove near the cosy neighbourhood restaurant The Little Owl.
“It feels strange to feel sad about it, but it really has been a sad morning,” said a 29-year-old fan, who brought flowers. “It’s been my comfort show since I can remember. I can’t imagine watching it now without feeling deep sadness.”
Though he appeared in other shows and movies like ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’ and ‘The Whole Nine Yards’, Perry was synonymous with the lovably sarcastic Chandler Bing, playing the character for a decade on ‘Friends’.
The much-loved sitcom which remains nearly as popular today as it was in the ’90s and early aughts, catapulted Perry and his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer onto the A-list.
Like many longtime ‘Friends’ fans, Hope Pace felt Perry’s loss deeply.
“He was all of our friends,” she said. “He was the silly friend; he was the happy friend. That’s why we say, ‘Check on your happy friends.’”
She cancelled her Sunday plans to visit the recognisable Village landmark and brought a sign that read, “Thank you for everything, Mr Bing. He deserves to be honoured,” she said. “I know he suffered a lot.”
Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home, according to law enforcement officials, who say there were no signs of foul play or drugs on the scene. A cause of death has not been revealed.
But in his 2022 memoir, ‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,’ Perry spoke openly about his sobriety battles, as well as his longtime struggles with alcohol and opioids.
Plenty of tears were flowing on Sunday afternoon as the crowd, many of whom were trickling in and out of the area, came together to process Perry’s death. Another fan describes feeling “total shock” as she stopped by the shrine with her husband.
“I’m 58, and Matthew Perry was 54. It’s hard to lose people who are your peers. You think you’re going to grow old with them,” she said through tears. “I wish he beat the demons.”
Her husband chimed in: “He had so much life left.”
Samantha Cheung, 27, and her friend Sabrina Wong, 26, were visiting from California and already had plans to stop by the building even before news broke about Perry’s death.
“I wanted to visit because the show gave me a lot of comfort growing up,” Cheung said. Wong added: “We’ve been watching episodes since we got to New York.”
Cheung was raised watching the sitcom with her family. Now that she’s in her 20s, she finds the show, about six New Yorkers navigating work, romance and the joys and frustrations of being out on your own, more relatable than ever.