Quinta Brunson consoles tearful Jennifer Aniston in conversation about Matthew Perry

Losing a loved one is undoubtedly the greatest grief one can experience. Jennifer Aniston lost her co-actor and friend Matthew Perry, a legendary actor known for his role in the sitcom, "Friends." They worked on the show together for more than 10 years and remained close friends until Perry's death. Aniston had a hard time dealing with the loss. She now finds it hard to watch the show while knowing that her co-star is no longer alive.

She appeared on an episode of Variety's "Actors on Actors" which was posted on June 7, 2024. The two were having conversations about their work and life. However, things took an unexpected turn when a producer off-camera requested Brunson to ask Aniston, "What's it like to watch Friends now?" Hearing this, the "Friends" actor exclaimed, "Oh God! Don't make me cry!" Brunson assured her that she wouldn't and told Aniston that they shouldn't make each other cry. However, by then Aniston was already quite emotional.

Brunson went on, "Do you want a minute? We don't have to talk about it." The 55-year-old said in tears, "Sorry I started thinking about..." and Brunson affirmed that she knew what she meant. The "Abott Elementary" actor reassured her that they didn't have to talk about it. Aniston replied, "No, I'm okay. It's the happy tears." She continued, "Okay and we're back." Brunson then switched to ask her, "Jen, Friends is turning 30" and Aniston interrupted, "And I'm turning 30. What a coincidence." The 34-year-old joked, "When you were a baby on that show, you were so advanced. Your fine motor skills were insane."

Aniston then went on to talk about the iconic show and it's turning 30. "It's so strange to even think that it's 30 years old because I remember the day it was gonna premiere on television, on NBC and me and Matthew Perry were having lunch somewhere and Lisa was getting her hair colored. So, we ran into the hair salon, I snuck up, took the nozzle and just started washing her hair from the guy who was supposed to be doing it. And it flew out of control, but the excitement we had, it feels like yesterday." She added that the fact that it still meant so much to people is one of the greatest gifts for all of them.

"I was Facetiming with Court, Lisa and the boys last night for an hour. And it's a family forever," she said about her former co-stars. Perry and Aniston had a close friendship and in 2022, the late actor said in an interview that Aniston was the cast member who reached out to him the most after the show ended, per Buzz Feed. She also wrote a tribute for him on Instagram, "Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before. We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really sit in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply.”

People applauded Brunson for the way she empathized with Aniston. @captblk commented, "Quinta gets props for saying to Jennifer, 'We don’t have to go there if you don’t want to.' I get why the producers were trying to create that buzzworthy moment, but I also appreciate Quinta’s willingness to derail it for Jennifer’s sake. It’s nice to see people take care of each other like that. This was a charming pairing." @jgoel3266 wrote, "The producers tried to create a 'gotcha' moment, and Quinta handled it beautifully. I love to see how much the 'Friends' cast loves each other. Love to JA and MP." @galaxychar shared, "It’s telling of Quinta’s empathy that she knew not to ask that question before she was prodded to. You can tell she has such an emotional intelligence."