Matthew Perry’s younger sister, Mia Perry Bowick, remembers his five surviving Friends costars walking toward his casket holding hands, then standing around him crying. She recounts the private farewell in a new documentary, according to Page Six.
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc attended the November 3, 2023, service at Forest Lawn in Los Angeles’s Hollywood Hills. Relatives and close friends gathered to remember the actor. The cemetery is near the Warner Bros. studio where the cast filmed the sitcom.
The recollection appears in The One About Matthew Perry, a three-part documentary directed by Mary Robertson that Netflix will release on October 27, 2026.
The streamer describes Bowick’s contribution as her first time speaking about her brother on camera. She became a licensed psychotherapist partly to understand his addiction.
Aniston Was the First to Embrace Perry’s Sister
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“I hadn’t seen them in easily 20 years,” Bowick says of the cast. Aniston came over first and gave her a hug; the others embraced her, too.
Bowick also recalls a moment at the funeral when she felt her brother behind her right shoulder, asking, “How f-ked up is this?”
She began laughing, aware that her reaction seemed inappropriate at such a painful moment but recognizing her brother in the remark.
Robertson told Page Six that laughter at a funeral could coexist with mourning. She considered Bowick’s recollection a reflection of Perry’s personality and the way people experience loss.
The ‘Friends’ Costars Declined New Interviews
Robertson said the production team approached all five surviving lead actors, but they chose not to be interviewed for the project. Perry’s stepfather, Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, also declined.
The director said she understood that everyone grieves differently and that someone might not feel ready to speak publicly. She expressed no resentment toward those who decided against participating.
Robertson separately told People that Perry’s father, John Bennett Perry, was not well enough to take part.
Family Archives Join Memories From Perry’s Longtime Friends
The production uses previously unreleased photographs and videos from the Perry family’s private archive alongside interviews with people who knew him before he became famous. He played Chandler Bing throughout the sitcom’s 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004.
Longtime friend Roger Castillo drove Perry to his Friends audition. Actor David Pressman belonged to their circle of aspiring performers who frequented Los Angeles’s Formosa Cafe.
Other contributors include Warren Littlefield, the former NBC executive who approved the sitcom’s pilot, and Kevin Pollak, Perry’s costar in The Whole Nine Yards, The Whole Ten Yards and Numb.
The series also includes Tim Harrington, who met Perry at a recovery meeting in 2001 and credits him with saving his life. West Huddleston worked with the actor on drug court advocacy.
The Documentary Idea Began With Perry’s Memoir
Robertson told People that she read Perry’s 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in a day and wrote to contacts connected with its publication about making a film. Her initial letters went unanswered.
Perry died at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023, at 54. The Los Angeles County medical examiner determined that the acute effects of ketamine caused his death, with drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine contributing. The manner was ruled accidental.
Robertson’s later outreach led to Netflix and a letter to Bowick, followed by a Zoom conversation with her and her husband, David.
Bowick said she needed time before sharing these memories and hoped viewers would see her brother’s generosity as well as his struggles.
“I hope we made it funny enough for him,” Robertson said.