Like many millennials, I used to watch Friends every single day (Picture: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)
It’s been exactly 367 days since I last watched an episode of Friends.
I know because today marks one year since Matthew Perry died of an accidental ketamine overdose, and his body was discovered in the hot tub of his Los Angeles mansion.
Like many millennials, I went through a period of watching Friends every single day – usually the same episode twice at 5pm on E4 and again when it was repeated on E4 plus one.
No one could ever have imagined how appropriate that title, Friends, would become. Sure, the show was built around a tightly-knit gang of six, but for fans like me, Rachel, Ross, Monica, Phoebe, Joey and Chandler always felt like real pals.
I am fully aware that is delusional. If anyone else said the same thing about any other fictional character I would be sure to keep a safe distance away from them.
But like The Remembrandts sang in the now infamous theme song, they were there for all of us.
They were there when school was rough; they were there through first heartbreaks, through fall outs with friends who really existed. Whatever the trauma, they were there in a DVD box set or weekdays at 5pm.
(From L-R) Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt Le Blanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (Picture: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
I never met Matthew Perry. I couldn’t pretend to have any emotional connection to Perry beyond being a huge fan of a TV show he finished filming 20 years before his death. But his death hit me really hard. It was the greatest grief I’ve ever felt for someone I’ve never actually had any direct contact with.
I was in a nightclub when I heard someone gasp over the thumping music: ‘Oh my god, Chandler died.’
In total disbelief, I went outside got a taxi home where I just lay in bed feeling completely numb.
I felt embarrassed to be so affected by the death of a celebrity, but whether it’s rational or not, stars like Mathew Perry and characters like Chandler Bing can be an emotional rock whether you’ve met the actor or the character even exists.
For me that’s never been truer than the characters of Friends and subsequently the affection I feel for its leading actors too.
In total disbelief, I went outside got a taxi home where I just lay in bed feeling completely numb(Picture: REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo)
Throughout the years, my favourite of the Friends gang has fluctuated. I never thought the day would come when I would say Monica is my numero uno but here we are.
Growing up though, it was Chandler. I never read into that too much, I just assumed it was because he was undisputedly the funniest but actually in hindsight, we were quite similar.
We were treated as being distinctly average. The gang were …read more
Source:: Metro
