Jennifer Aniston has been "completely knocked off her feet" by 'Friends' co-star Matthew Perry's death - less than a year after losing her father.
Jennifer Aniston is dealing with the loss of her friend and father
The 54-year-old actor - who portrayed the beloved character Chandler Bing on the iconic US sitcom - was found dead in his hot tub at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles in an apparent drowning on October 28.
And Jennifer - who played Rachel Green on the show - has been struggling to deal with the loss of her close friend so soon after her beloved father, 'Days of Our Lives' star John Aniston, who died aged 89 in November.
A source told Page Six: "Out of the remaining five, Jen and Courtney (Cox) are reeling the most, and Jen is probably the one who is struggling most acutely.
"She still hasn't fully regained her footing from that, and now this has just completely knocked her off her feet.
"Despite doing her best to regroup and recover... (Matthew's death has) been a completely devastating blow."
The update comes after it was reported that Jennifer "kept to herself" at Matthew's funeral.
The 54-year-old actress was at the service on Friday (03.11.23) with her fellow cast members Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow.
An onlooker told DailyMail.com: "She was one of the first to arrive. She kept herself to herself. This is a high-profile gathering."
Matthew had suffered from addiction to alcohol and drugs throughout his life and another insider explained that Jennifer had really believed that his "worst days" were in the past and his passing came as a "bitter body blow" to her.
The source said: "Nobody shed more tears for Matthew during the darkest points of his struggles with addiction than Jennifer. There was speculation at the time of the 2021 Friends reunion that Matthew wouldn't be a part of it because his demons had gotten the better of him. But Jennifer absolutely wouldn't have done it without him. He put in the work and made it a success even though he seemed frail. But Jennifer genuinely thought his worst days were behind him. So his death just two years later has come as a bitter body blow to her."
While it remains unclear exactly how the '17 Again' star died, the insider insisted that it is irrelevant whether it was a drowning accident or related to his addiction issues because Jennifer had been "dreading" the day for the past 20 years and had striven to help him in any way she could.
The insider added: "It doesn't matter whether he died as a result of a freak accident or whether it was directly connected to his drug issues, this was a day that Jennifer has dreaded coming for 20 years. She always wanted to help Matthew any way she could – that was a constant for her."
Since the tragedy, an interview has now resurfaced from 2004 when Jennifer told Diane Sawyer, 77, of her terror over the prospect of Matthew dying before his time.
When Diane asked what Matthew didn’t know about himself and needed to hear, Jennifer said: “That he’s alright. He struggled, and we didn’t know. We weren’t equipped to deal with it. Nobody had ever dealt with that.
“And the idea of ever losing him… .”
Tagged in Jennifer Aniston Matthew Perry Courteney Cox