Jennifer Aniston is honoring late friend Matthew Perry by encouraging others to support his biggest cause: fighting addiction.
On her Instagram Story, the actor shared a screenshot from Matthew's foundation, which included a lovely black-and-white photo of him laughing.
“For #GivingTuesday please join me and Matty’s family in supporting his foundation - which is working to help those suffering with addiction 🤍,” Jennifer wrote over the photo. “He would have been grateful for the love 🥰.”
The Matthew Perry Foundation is a project Matthew had been working on before his passing on October 28, and was launched by the late actor’s loved ones a week after his death, with the aims of “identifying addiction as a disease, addressing the complex of stigmas that prevents individuals from seeking and accessing care, and fiercely advocating for better and more equitable treatment,” a statement said.
Matthew was open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol through the years, and while he was in and out of rehab for most of his adult life, he also worked tirelessly to help others free themselves from addiction. Over the years, he lobbied in Washington, D.C., for drug courts, pushing for drug offenders to be sentenced to long-term treatment and other forms of help rather than receiving jail time. In 2013, he received a Champion of Recovery award from the Obama White House. And in 2015, he opened a men’s sober living facility called Perry House in his former Malibu home. (It ran until 2021.)
In his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew famously wrote, “When I die, I don’t want Friends to be the first thing that’s mentioned—I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned. And I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that.” That quote now lives on the home page of his foundation’s website.
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.
