The actress shared a way that 'Friends' fans can support the late actor's legacy following his sudden death last month
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Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry at the 1995 NBC Fall Preview in NYCJennifer Aniston wants fans of the late Matthew Perry to honor his legacy in one simple way.
The actress, 54, encouraged her followers on Instagram to contribute to the Matthew Perry Foundation, which was launched by his family on Nov. 3 as a way to pay tribute to the Friends actor following his sudden death on Oct. 28.
“For #GivingTuesday please join me and Matty’s family in supporting his foundation - which is working to help those suffering with addiction ????,” Aniston wrote in a post on her Instagram Story on Tuesday, in honor of the global day of generosity.
The foundation supports those suffering from addiction, like Perry did himself, “He would have been grateful for the love ????”
Jennifer Aniston/Instagram
Jennifer Aniston shares a message to 'Friends' fansPerry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, shared a similar message on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday as he admitted, “This is not the sort of thing I commonly do, this pitch. But this year is different. And tomorrow is Giving Tuesday. Do what you can; he would have been grateful.”
Morrison — who married Perry’s mother, Suzanne Perry, in 1981 and had a special bond with his stepson — also included a link to the foundation’s website in the post as he urged fans to support the organization.
The day before Giving Tuesday — when Aniston and Morrison shared their respective posts about paying tribute to Perry, who was 54 when he died — the actor’s family told PEOPLE the Matthew Perry Foundation’s goal is "identifying addiction as a disease, addressing the complex stigmas that prevents individuals from seeking and accessing care, and fiercely advocating for better and more equitable treatment."
“It is important to us, as a family, to honor Matthew’s legacy,” Perry’s family said. “The potential that the Matthew Perry Foundation has to help those suffering from this disease is something we are proud to bring to the world.”
Establishing a foundation to support those suffering from substance abuse was something the late actor had been planning to do prior to his death last month, PEOPLE learned. A decade ago, he founded Perry House, a men’s sober living facility which ran for two years.
Related: Matthew Perry Reflected on 'Special,' Unbreakable Bond with Friends Costars Years After the Show
Aniston’s post encouraging her followers and Friends fans to donate to Perry’s foundation marks her first post on social media since she broke her silence about the loss of the late actor in an Instagram tribute on Nov. 15.
“Oh boy this one has cut deep ... Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before," Aniston wrote as she shared a photo of herself and Perry from the sitcom’s 2004 finale episode, along with a text message from the actor that included the image. "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. He was such a part of our DNA."
The Morning Show actress continued, "We were always the 6 of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be. For Matty, he KNEW he loved to make people laugh. As he said himself, if he didn't hear the 'laugh' he thought he was going to die. His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard."
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She said that she had been looking back on their many text conversations, even sharing one of them in her second slide. "In the last couple weeks, I've been pouring over our texts to one another. Laughing and crying then laughing again. I'll keep them forever and ever. I found one text that he sent me out of nowhere one day. It says it all. (See the second slide…)," she said.
The conversation included Perry sending Aniston the black-and-white photo of them on the sitcom’s set, along with a message, “Making you laugh just made my day. It made my day:),” to which she had replied, “Awww the first of THOUSANDS of times…????????♥❤️.”
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