Lisa Kudrow Thanks Matthew Perry For Years Of Memories In Tear-Jerking Post

Matthew Perry's death at age 54 came as a shock, and nowhere is that shock and grief more evident than in the tributes that have come in from his "Friends" co-stars. In the first days after his death, the joint statement from Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer started with, "We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. [...] "In time we will say more, as and when we are able," via People. 

That time seems to have come. One by one, each of the "Friends" stars have posted public tributes to Perry. It started with LeBlanc and Cox, then Aniston and Schwimmer — Schwimmer's ode to Perry made us both laugh and cry — and now Kudrow has spoken out.

Kudrow posted to Instagram a picture of her and Perry from the early days of "Friends," and she wrote a list of thank yous to Perry that will bring a tear to your eye. "Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have," Kudrow wrote. "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." We'll be right back; just getting some tissues.

In her Instagram post, Lisa Kudrow also gave some insights into the relationship between Matthew Perry and the rest of the "Friends" cast, and how he was integral in kicking off their real-life friendship. After they shot the pilot and the show got the green light, "You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that," Kudrow wrote. The cast has spoken about their poker bonding before; they'd been encouraged by the show's director to become friends in real life, and poker was such a fun time for them, that it was turned into an episode — "The One With All the Poker," Season 1, Episode 18.

Kudrow then highlighted Perry's sense of humor, which any "Friends" fan knows was absolutely on point. "Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY," she wrote. That surely would have meant a lot to Perry; he loved and even lived to make people laugh. On the "Friends: The Reunion" special on HBO, he admitted that "if I didn't get the laugh I was supposed to get [from the audience], I would freak out."

"Friends" was without doubt an ensemble show; all six of the main cast had to work together, with no one trying to stand out as the main character for the show to be what it was. Lisa Kudrow wrote about how Matthew Perry was good at that in her Instagram tribute to him. "Thank you for your open heart in a six-way relationship that required compromise," she said. "And a lot of 'talking.'"

Along with all the good times they had, Kudrow obliquely acknowledged the ongoing addiction battle that Perry was going through while on the show. "Thank you for showing up at work when you weren't well and then, being completely brilliant," she wrote. Having to show up to work for "Friends" was something that Perry said helped him in his addiction struggle. The year before his death, Perry admitted on "The View," "You can't have the 17th drink when you have to be at work the next morning with these wonderful people doing the job."

Fans noted in the comments of Kudrow's post how much it meant to them to see the tributes from Perry's "Friends" co-stars. They also sent love to Kudrow and the rest of the "Friends" cast as they continue to grieve. Clearly, Perry was very much beloved and very much missed.