The 'Simpsons' voice cast shares what he felt as he said final goodbye to the late 'Friends' actor at the star's funeral, describing the send-off as a bittersweet moment.
- Nov 12, 2023
AceShowbiz - Hank Azaria had bittersweet moment at Matthew Perry's funeral. The former "Friends" star was discovered dead in his hot tub in a suspected drowning towards the end of last month at the age of 54 and now his friend Hank - who is best known for voicing a number of characters such as Moe Szyslak and Chief Wiggum on "The Simpsons" - has remembered him as a "hilarious" man as he recalled that those at the funeral were both laughing and crying as they mourned the tragic loss.
"I was at the funeral last weekend. You know, sad. He was a hilarious man, so we would sort of [be] alternately laughing and crying remembering him. We've all had people we've lost. The world really lost him. In a way, it's nice to have the world sort of sharing with you," he told The Messenger.
The funeral - which took place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in LA last week - was also attended by Matthew's "Friends" co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, and David Schwimmer.
Matthew had struggled with addiction for a number of years and following his death, The Matthew Perry Foundation has been launched to help others struggling. Hank achieved sobriety himself almost 20 years ago and went on to add that with his own foundation, he just wants to continue Matthew's "mission" of helping people recover.
He added, "I just found out he was just setting that up. I have my own foundation. Absolutely. I just made some calls in that endeavor, to connect to them. Whatever I can do to continue his mission, of spreading the word of recovery, and helping folks, I'll do whatever I can."
"My foundation [Determined to Succeed] is devoted to education, sobriety/mental health wellness and social justice. The three stated roles. So absolutely, sobriety and recovery is part of what we do."
The "Run Fatboy Run" star recently explained that it was Matthew who helped him achieve sobriety himself when he was struggling with addiction to alcohol. He told Entertainment Weekly, "I'm a sober guy for 17 years, and I wanna say that, the night I went into AA [Alcoholics Anonymous], Matthew brought me in. The whole first year I was sober, we went to meetings together. He was so caring and giving. He totally helped me get sober."
