Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston, 52, has spoken out about her time filming hit sitcom Friends, admitting that she had no idea of the levels of “anxiety and self-torture” felt by her co-star Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing, while on set of the programme. Speaking during the landmark 17-year reunion, Matthew, 51, told his co-stars that he felt like he was “dying” if they didn’t laugh at his on-screen gags.
Speaking on the Today show, the actress who played Rachel Green in the NBC series explained that the reunion gave her an insight into Matthew’s inner struggles as an actor.
Following revelations of the pain he felt when his jokes would fall flat with the cast or live audience, Jennifer said: “I didn’t understand the level of anxiety and self-torture [that] was put on Matthew Perry, if he didn’t get that laugh, and the devastation that he felt.”
She also said that in retrospect, her co-star’s admissions made “a lot of sense.”
Speaking on Friends: The Reunion last month, the actor explained he was often incredibly anxious about delivering Chandler’s much-loved jokes.
Matthew said: “I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh.
“It’s not healthy, but if I said a line and they didn’t laugh, I’d sweat and go into convulsions,” he candidly admitted.
The star said that his feelings of anxiety were a regular occurance and would happen repeatedly.
“I’d freak out. I felt like that every single night,” he stated.
The admission caused his co-star Lisa Kudrow to admit that she had no idea he felt like that.
She said: “You didn’t tell us that then.”
Matthew’s co-stars had no idea how he felt, as Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer, Lisa and Matt LeBlanc said they found tapings of Friends “rewarding”.
The actor’s admission came after fans of the Friends star were left concerned over his “slurred” speech in the Reunion preview.
It has since been revealed it was due to emergency dental surgery.
A source told The Sun that the actor’s different speech was down to hours of “emergency dental work”, which left the star in “pain” while filming the clip with his co-stars.
They said: “Matthew turned up to the reunion [in April] and members of his team said that he had an emergency tooth procedure that day.
“That was said to impact his wellbeing and also how he was feeling.
“He had been in pain from what we understand, which caused the slurred speech,” they added.
Matthew has been open about his struggles with addiction in the past.
Speaking to People magazine, the star admitted that his lifestyle got “out of control and very unhealthy” following a 1997 jet-ski accident which left him addicted to painkiller Vicodin.
Additionally, the actor spoke to BBC Radio 2 five years ago and said he had been “a little out of it” while filming parts of Friends.