Lisa Kudrow has revealed a hidden note she recently found from Matthew Perry inside a Friends prop.
The Phoebe Buffay actress and Chandler Bing star, who died in October 2023 at the age of 54 by acute effects of ketamine, maintained a close friendship after their time on the beloved sitcom.
After the series came to an end in 2004, Perry gifted Lisa, 61, a prop from the set after an impromptu filming joke they shared, with the Hotel for Dogs actress now revealing she found a note inside it.
Appearing on the Drew Barrymore show, Lisa teased she had stolen something from the set of Friends, but refused to say what the item was, before the host probed whether it was the Cookie Time jar, which was often seen in the kitchen in Monica and Rachel’s apartment.
‘Matthew gave that to me at the end of our last episode,’ she said, according to People.
‘I had recently found the note that he had in it for me. I hadn’t opened it up or looked inside of it.
‘But yeah, he did. He had a note in there and I forgot about it.’
While she didn’t reveal what the note said, she emotionally added: ‘Timing is everything.’
Lisa previously said she had been given the prop from the apartment in a 2020 interview, telling Jimmy Kimmel: ‘That was the wrap gift [Matthew Perry] gave me, and we were laughing hysterically and crying, because it was the end.
‘But it’s funny to us because we were shooting a scene, years before we finished, and my line was, “I better get going, I’m late,” except I didn’t have a watch.
‘And we were shooting it, it was too late, when I realised I didn’t have a watch, so how did I know that I had to get going, and so as the words were coming out, I thought, “Oh good there’s a clock,” so I just turned to that and said, “Oh look at the time”.’
She went on to say that she asked Perry if he had permission to give her the prop, after the cast’s cars were searched ‘every night’ to make sure nothing was taken from set.
Following the news of Perry’s death, the cast released a joint statement before sharing their own tributes.
In hers, Lisa made a point of thanking the 17 Again star for his most hilarious moments, and for continuing to ‘show up’ through difficult periods in his life.
She said: ‘Shot the pilot, Friends Like Us, got picked up then immediately, we were at the NBC Upfronts.
‘Then… You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that.
‘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.”
‘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. 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.’
Lisa later said that she had started rewatching the series as a way of honoring Perry, explaining: ‘Honestly, I wasn’t able to watch it because it’s too embarrassing to watch yourself. But if I make it about Matthew, then that’s okay.’
She continued to The Hollywood Reporter: ‘And it’s just celebrating how hilarious he was — and that is what I want to remember [about him].’
Shedding light on how she wants Perry to be remembered in the wake of his death, she added: ‘I think the world is remembering him the way he wanted to be remembered. I think that’s happening [already].’
Friends is available to watch on Netflix.
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