Christina Ricci, Aisha Tyler and Other Friends Guest Stars Remember Matthew Perry

The Friends family honors the beloved Chandler Bing.

Days after the shocking news of Matthew Perry’s death at age 54 from an alleged drowning at his LA home on Saturday, his co-stars from the hit ’90s sitcom are weighing their loss.

Aisha Tyler, who played Ross’s girlfriend to David Schwimmer’s character Charlie Wheeler for nine episodes of the show — becoming the first black person to have a recurring role on the sitcom — wrote on Instagram that Perry “had a tenderness and generosity of spirit that is unmatched.”

“I learned how to tell a joke perfectly just by watching him do it. And I’ll never forget the moment he leaned in, my first night of shooting Friends, to tell me warmly, ‘get ready for your life to change,'” she continued. “Get a good rest, Matthew Perry. Thank you for your kindness and laughter.”

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Elliott Gould, who played Monica and Ross’ father on the sitcom and became Chandler’s father-in-law after marrying Monica in season seven, also paid tribute to Perry, who he described as “kind, thoughtful, smart, funny and just a great, talented actor. ”

Gould, 85, continued in his post, “Matthew told me he was honored to work with me. What he didn’t know until I told him was that it was my honor to play his father-in-law. My heart goes out to his wonderful family. He will be missed by many, but he will never be forgotten.”

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Jennifer Aniston (left), David Schwimmer, Aisha Tyler, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry in ‘Friends’.

NBCU Photo Bank

Christina Ricci, who guest starred as one of Joey Tribbiani’s (Matt LeBlanc) seven sisters in the spinoff series Joeypraised Perry as a “genius” on Instagram as she shared, “Friends he saved me many times in difficult and lonely moments of my life. I adored his character and wanted to marry Chandler Bing as a teenager. I’ve seen all his movies.”

Despite never having met Perry, Ricci, 43, said she “broke down in tears” when she read the news of his death and encouraged people to read his book, which she called “another gift he gave us.”

“I downloaded his book and read it all on my flight today. I am heartbroken because this man suffered so much in his life giving us so much of himself,” she wrote. “May he finally rest in peace ♥️.”

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Maggie Wheeler, who played Chandler’s girlfriend Janice Hosenstein before he married Monica (Courteney Cox), also made an impact after the actor’s death.

“What a waste. The world will miss you, Matthew Perry,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of them together in the sitcom. “The joy you brought to many in your too short life will live on. I feel so blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

Matthew Perry (left) and Maggie Wheeler in ‘Friends’.

Maggie Wheeler/Instagram

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Kathleen Turner, who played Helena Handbasket, one of Chandler’s parents Friendsopened up to PEOPLE about the loss of her TV son in light of his death, sharing that she’s “very sad for Matthew.”

“He came to see one of my plays on Broadway and went backstage,” Turner, 69, said. “When he saw me, he yelled, ‘Hey dad,’ and everyone thought that was pretty cool. I think it was for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”

Turner played Helena Handbasket, a transgender woman whom Chandler called his “father” on the show, and she praised Perry for his “good sense of humor” and “good heart”.

“He loved other people, which is terribly important to me, especially for an actor.”

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Series co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane along with executive producer Kevin Bright released a joint statement Sunday expressing their love for the late actor, who they said was “always the funniest in the room.”

“We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by the death of our beloved friend Matthew,” they wrote. “It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as a part of our lives. He was a brilliant talent.”

Referring to Perry’s breakthrough role as the sarcastic Chandler Bing, they continued: “It’s a cliché to say that an actor creates his own role, but in Matthew’s case, there’s no truer word. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.”

Matthew Perry (left) and Courteney Cox Arquette in ‘Friends’.

Photo Bank Gary Null/NBCU

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One of Perry’s longtime friends, Hank Azaria — who was cast in Friends as one of Phoebe Buffay’s (Lisa Kudrow) boyfriends, David — also paid tribute to the late actor in a video posted to Instagram on Sunday.

“Matthew was the first friend I made in Los Angeles when I moved there. I was 21, he was 16,” Azaria, 59, said as he began a lengthy tribute to his friend, whom he praised as “the funniest man ever.”

“Matthew and I became very good friends and for a long time we were more like brothers. We drank a lot together, we laughed a lot together, we were there for each other in the early days of our careers,” he continued. “I really loved him.”

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