Courteney Cox Says Matthew Perry Put 'a Lot of Pressure on Himself' During 'Friends'

"I think he's doing great now," Courteney Cox said of Friends costar Matthew Perry

Photo: Justin Lubin/NBC

Courteney Cox is supportive of her longtime friend.

In a new conversation with The Sunday Times, the Scream star, 57, briefly spoke about her former Friends costar Matthew Perry after he was criticized for slurring his speech during HBO Max's Friends: The Reunion special last May. (The Sun reported at the time that Perry had undergone an emergency dental procedure shortly before filming the reunion special.)

"He's just struggled for a while. I think he's doing great now," Cox told the publication.

In the past, Perry has been open about alcoholism and addiction. "It wasn't my intention to have a problem with it," Perry told PEOPLE in 2002 of his use of Vicodin. "But from the start, I liked how it made me feel and I wanted to get more."

Years later, in 2016, Perry admitted he didn't remember filming some of the Friends seasons. "I ​don't remember three years of it," Perry told BBC. "I was a little out of it at the time — somewhere between seasons three and six."

David Bjerke/NBC

Then, during HBO Max's Friends reunion special last year, Perry admitted that his portrayal of Chandler Bing, and the audience's reaction to his performance, greatly affected his mental health. "For me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn't laugh," he said.

When asked about Perry's remark from the reunion, Cox told The Sunday Times, "That was a lot of pressure he put on himself. That's a lot to think how much he relied on that for his own self-worth."

Perry is set to release an autobiography in November, titled Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing. "So much has been written about me in the past," he said. "I thought it was time people heard from me. The highs were high, the lows were low. But I have lived to tell the tale, even though at times it looked like I wouldn't. And it's all in here. I apologize it's not a pop up book."

As for Cox, the Friends reunion "was fantastic to see everybody again, reminisce and realize how much fun we had," she said.

"Every now and then I'll see an episode and [think] this is still relevant and still funny," the Shining Vale actress also shared in her Sunday Times interview, later adding, "I'm glad that [Friends] has gone through this many years and people still love it. If they stopped caring I would feel worse."