Tragic Details About The Friends Cast

"Friends" has been one of the most popular sitcoms of all time since it debuted in 1994, launching the six-actor ensemble cast made up of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer into overnight sensations whose lives were changed forever. But with all great comedy, there comes tragedy — something the cast is well acquainted with after suddenly losing one of their own in 2023, not long after the long-overdue cast reunion. It wasn't the first "Friends" death that's happened, either.

Besides grief, the stars of the NBC sitcom have dealt with all kinds of hardships, including addiction, discrimination, fertility issues, sickness, and divorce. Of course, positive things have happened to them as well, such as having kids and making major bank from reruns. Like the good they've experienced, the adversities they've endured have presumably shaped the lives of the stars, for better or worse.

A couple of years after the highly-anticipated "Friends" reunion special, star Matthew Perry suffered an untimely death at only 54 years old. Perry, who played the sarcastic Chandler Bing on the show, passed away in 2023 from the "acute effects of ketamine," according to an autopsy report the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner released (via NPR). Perry was in his hot tub when the incident occurred, and he drowned as a result.

Five people were ultimately charged in connection with Perry's death, including two doctors and one woman known as "The Ketamine Queen," who allegedly provided Perry the ketamine that killed him. Three of those charged have since pleaded guilty, with one of the doctors and "The Ketamine Queen" pleading not guilty and heading for trial. To make a sad story even worse, Perry's reported last words were absolutely tragic. He supposedly said (via NBC News), "Shoot me up with a big one" to his live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who has since pleaded guilty for his role in Perry's death.

Perry struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for decades and had been in and out of rehab. He eventually did get sober, before falling off the wagon a final time. Due to his addiction, Perry admitted he didn't remember making three seasons of "Friends," saying, "I was a little out of it at the time — somewhere between Seasons 3 and 6" (via Biography).

Both Courteney Cox and her "Friends" character, Monica Geller, dealt with fertility issues. Cox revealed she suffered seven miscarriages before giving birth to Coco, her daughter with ex-husband David Arquette. "I don't think that's something that people shouldn't talk about, because... it was unfortunate but it happens," Cox said of her experience (via The U.S. Sun).

There was one moment in particular during "Friends" that challenged Cox in ways she never expected. On the episode where Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) gives birth, Cox had actually just had a miscarriage. "It was like that same time. Oh my God, it was terrible having to be funny," she shared with NBC back in 2004 (via Bright Side).

Moreover, while dealing with struggling to conceive, Cox repeatedly got plastic surgery, particularly fillers, which is something she deeply regrets. "There's so much pressure to stay looking young in this industry that once you start, it becomes a bit of a domino effect and you keep on having more," she told Woman magazine (via the Daily Mail). Cox shared that while other people noticed drastic changes to her face, she herself didn't because she was only doing one procedure at a time. Cox was aware that people were talking about her face and had her fillers dissolved in 2017, opting to age naturally.

David Schwimmer has been open about being discriminated against for being Jewish. He shared his negative experiences with NBC News during an interview. "When it comes to certain prejudice and the hatred that still pervades this country I'm a Jew first and not a white person." When interviewer Ann Curry asked if Schwimmer had been discriminated against because of his faith, he confirmed he had, and that people called him slurs to his face.

However, Schwimmer didn't want to sound like he was complaining. Instead, he wanted to open a dialogue with the play he was directing at the time, "Race," having adapted it from Studs Terkel's oral history. "No matter how progressive, how open minded you feel you are, you still carry some kind of prejudice. And we all have work to do. So the purpose of doing the play is to just get people to want to talk about it and think about it and examine themselves."

Just like her character Rachel Green, Jennifer Aniston's love life has been filled with ups and downs. She admitted that her parents' divorce affected her relationships all her life. She was only 9 when her parents split and she told The WSJ Magazine, "Watching my family's relationship didn't make me kind of go, 'Oh, I can't wait to do that.'" But she did find love twice with two of her exes: Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux.

Aniston married Brad Pitt in 2000, and, during their marriage, Pitt guest-starred on "Friends," and the couple co-founded a production company. But, they separated in 2005 and Aniston filed for divorce two months later. Around the same time, Pitt filmed "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" with Angelina Jolie and they fell for each other while Pitt was still married to Aniston. Naturally, affair rumors swirled online, with Aniston caught in the middle of the drama.

In 2015, she married Theroux, but they broke up less than three years later. At the time, neither of them publicly mentioned a reason for the split, so fans speculated on their own. In 2021, Theroux told Esquire that the rumor they broke up because she wanted to live on the west coast while he wanted to live on the east coast wasn't true. "People create narratives that make themselves feel better or simplify things for them ... That's just not the case. It's an oversimplification." He admitted they are actually still friends.

While not part of the core six cast members, James Michael Tyler became a fan favorite as Central Perk barista Gunther for all 10 seasons of the show. He passed away in October 2021 at age 59 from prostate cancer. Less than six months before he died, Tyler appeared on the "Friends" reunion special in a virtual cameo. He chose not to show up in person like the rest of the cast because of his illness, which he later revealed on "Today."

"I'm here to let you know that in September of 2018, I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, which had spread to my bones," he shared. "For my specific prognosis, of course it's Stage 4. Late-stage cancer." Tyler said he didn't want to bring down the happy vibe of the reunion by revealing that Gunther, a beloved character, has cancer. Crying during the interview with TODAY, Tyler shared he should have listened to his wife and gone into the doctor earlier. If he'd done that, his cancer may have been caught sooner.