I remember Friends being on, 1994-2004. Honestly I wasn't a very loyal viewer. I didn't really get into it until they were in mid-life. Then I watched it off and on until the last 2, 3 seasons. I remember my Aunt being a big dedicated fan. I definitely remember the hype of Jennifer Aniston's romance with Brad Pitt and Courteney Cox's romance with David Arquette being splashed over on every media magazine possible. It wasn't until after it ended when I became a 'dedicated' fan when I collected the entire run of seasons on DVD. I remember one particular birthday while there was a Hurricane (Jeanne) visiting and I spent the entire day watching a marathon of Friends. Chandler (played by Matthew Perry) was my favorite male Friend, Phoebe (played by Lisa Kudrow) was my favorite female Friend. I felt more relatable with Chandler, a female version of Chandler I sometimes felt. Especially the humor and fear of commitment (unlike Chandler, I wasn't in many romantic relationships, never been married - and I'm fine with it.... or maybe I am the female version of Matthew Perry? Minus the drug and alcohol addiction). Whatever relating it may be, I was definitely drawn to Chandler and Matthew. I definitely found Matthew to be a very handsome man, attractive.
I wouldn't call myself a dedicated fan of Matthew's, though I did see Fools Rush In (my high school even played the movie on those "off" days; I remember one summer a teacher would have movie day once a week) and his guest appearance on Scrubs is one of my favorite Scrubs episodes (which he directed, including co-staring with his father, John Bennett Perry). I also watched The Kennedy's After Camelot just to watch Matthew - it turned out to be his final acting role before a series of drug addiction and health scares took its toll. I just recently binged into his version of The Odd Couple (too bad it only lasted three seasons, I enjoyed it; Thomas Lennon did a great Felix). I watched the Friends reunion with a dear friend of mine. Poor Matthew had just gotten his teeth yanked out due to their bad conditions and was replaced by fake teeth. The pain he must've felt - his face did look twisted in pain. Of course the criticism over his drug addiction was there, believing he was strung out. Luckily for Matthew, there were paparazzi photos of him going to the Dentist to help back him up. The taping of Friends reunion happened almost a year after Covid (2021) and this was a done deal; Matthew had to muster all this strength to make it and pretend he was fine while his jaw/mouth was on fire. He did look happy to be there. Bless him.
In November of 2022, Matthew published his memoir. I remember him being on the cover of People magazine and buying it - he looked so good. Never would I ever thought we would have lost him almost a year later. I didn't buy his book when it came out. I did intend to, but, honestly, me going to a bookstore went from (past) going weekly to (present) every few months. I could've ordered online, sure, but usually I reserve that for vintage books that you can't find in a bookstore or the library. His memoir was the Best Seller, so Matthew enjoyed its success, making appearances and book tours (unfortunately not in my area). A year later, almost exactly to the date his memoir was published, it went back on the #1 Best Seller list - second year in a row ... unfortunately, he wasn't here to see a new popularity the second time around. For some reason, when a (especially beloved) celebrity dies, their work catalog gets popular again.
Hearing the news of his death ... At first, it was almost like a shrug off, Oh well type. I was washing dishes. The news sunk in deeply afterwards, and the grief also went deep. The news was becoming more real by the second, I soon watched live TikToks of outside his home as it was happening - his body was still there. By 2 AM my time, I had to cut it off as I had to get up to go to work. I did debate to take a day off.... then I said nope, as I thought it would look ridiculous to take someone's death, someone I never met, seriously to take a day off. I pushed those days during that first week through - but I didn't hide my sadness. I was more quieter than usual, my students noticed my mood - some hugged me without snowing other than their teacher was very sad. I don't think I have felt this devastated since Robin Williams in 2014 where a celebrity death will just come to you and suddenly punch in the stomach, wounded enough not to eat much.
At this time, it's been over 6 months since Matthew passed away and he's been on my mind since. I'm starting to think he's craving his initials "MLP Here 4 Life" into my brain tissue.
