Lisa Kudrow Thanks Matthew Perry for 'Trusting Me' During 'the Best 10 Years a Person Gets to Have' on Friends

Lisa Kudrow has broken her silence on the death of her friend and costar Matthew Perry.

Two weeks after Perry's death at age 54, his Friends star reflected via Instagram on the very beginnings of the show's 10-year run in 1994.

"Shot the pilot, Friends Like Us, got picked up then immediately, we were at the NBC Upfronts," began Kudrow, 60. "Then… You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that.

She continued, "Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY. Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of 'talking.'"

Touching on Perry's struggle with addiction, she noted, "Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant. Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have. Thank you for trusting me."

She concluded, "Thank you for all I learned about GRACE and LOVE through knowing you. Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew."

Kudrow and Perry were long credited as the standout talents from the hit ‘90s sitcom, and they often joked together about their own hilarity.

In a silly segment on Piers Morgan Tonight in 2013, Perry guest hosted the news show and brought Kudrow along as a special guest. During their conversation, he referred to her as the second funniest Friends cast member behind himself, of course — a title that Kudrow was honored to receive. 

As he introduced his former castmate, Perry called her “beautiful,” “intelligent” and “hilarious” before adding that Kudrow is “one of my favorite people in the whole wide world.”

During the segment, the two chatted about their time on the sitcom and even reflected on their one and only onscreen kiss — which took place during season five as a joint plot between Phoebe (Kudrow) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) takes shape to expose that Chandler (Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox) are dating. 

“I guess we can now ask, who was the best kisser? And don’t say me because I’m sitting here — but don’t say not me because I’m sitting here,” Perry asked Kudrow. “Say it’s me.”

She replied, “It’s you!” and Perry thanked her for the affirmation. 

Looking back on the series' end in 2004, both admitted they would have continued on if given the chance. 

“I find myself sort of reminiscing about how much fun the show was and the hours that we worked and how much — you know, you can see, how much we laughed and everything," said Perry. "And I found myself saying, if I could – if I had a time machine, I would like to go back to 2004 and not have stopped.”

He then asked if Kudrow theoretically had access to a time machine, would she go back to 2004 and make a different decision — to which she agreed. 

“Yeah, if it were up to us, like, individually — then yeah,” she said. “I would keep going.”

Perry also took the chance to compliment his former castmate, telling her, “I find you to be, quite honestly, one of the most intelligent actors I’ve ever worked with.”

Another standout moment from Kudrow and Perry’s decades-long friendship came with the release of his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, for which Kudrow wrote the foreword. 

In it, she praised him as “whip smart … charming, sweet, sensitive, very reasonable and rational” as she reflected on the difficulty she faced as he battled addiction. 

“Truly, I wasn’t exactly sure how Matthew was doing,” she said of her limited knowledge of his struggles, which he was keeping as a “secret,” even from her.

“Over those years I didn’t really try to intervene or confront him, because the little I knew about addiction was that his sobriety was out of my hands. And yet, I would have periods of wondering if I was wrong for not doing more, doing something,” she admitted, sharing that she “focused on Matthew” instead of his addiction.

Perry “could make me laugh so hard every day, and once a week, laugh so hard I cried and couldn’t breathe,” she continued.

The memoir, she wrote, was “the first time I’m hearing what living with and surviving addiction really was. Matthew has told me some things, but not in this kind of detail.”

She concluded the foreword, “He has survived impossible odds, but I had no idea how many times he almost didn’t make it. I’m glad you’re here, Matty. Good for you. I love you.”

PEOPLE's newly expanded Friends special edition issue is celebrating Matthew Perry’s life, humor and the show that made him beloved by millions.

While talking to PEOPLE about his memoir, the actor gave a special shoutout to his Friends family, who he said were “understanding” and “patient” with him as he navigated addiction. 

"It's like penguins. In nature, when one is sick or very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up and walk around until that penguin can walk on its own," he said. "And that's kind of what the cast did for me."

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.