Matthew Perry remembered at private gathering attended by family, friends

The one where they said goodbye.

Matthew Perry’s father, John Bennett Perry, and stepfather, Keith Morrison, were spotted at Forest Lawn Church of the Hills in Los Angeles on Friday — in exclusive photos obtained by The Post — for a gathering presumed to be a funeral service for the beloved, late “Friends” star. 

The cemetery is opposite of the Warner Bros studios, where Perry filmed the popular sitcom for 10 years.

Bodyguards for Jennifer Aniston were also seen driving from her LA home and arriving at the venue, though she was not immediately spotted there, nor were Perry’s other “Friends” co-stars, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox and David Schwimmer.

The critically acclaimed actor, who starred as Chandler Bing on the long-running NBC series, died of an apparent drowning at his home on Oct. 28 at the age of 54.

“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” the cast said in a joint statement on Monday. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”

“In time we will say more, as and when we are able,” they continued. “For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”

One day before the gathering, director Jim Burrows, who helmed more than a dozen episodes of “Friends,” said that he immediately texted Aniston, Cox and Kudrow after hearing of Perry’s passing.

“I had texted the girls the day we found out,” he told “Today” on Thursday. “They were destroyed. It’s a brother dying.”

“Friends” co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane and director Kevin Bright also released their own statement following the tragic news.

“We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing,” they said. “It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives.”

“He was a brilliant talent,” the trio continued. “It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us. We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment – not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart. This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”

The Post confirmed in late October that the beloved “Fools Rush In” star was found underwater after officials received a phone call reporting that the late actor was in his hot tub and not breathing.

In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Department told The Post: “We responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd for a death investigation on a male 4:10 p.m. this afternoon. He was in his 50s.”

The caller’s identity has not been revealed by authorities, though TMZ reported it was Perry’s assistant, who made the call after returning from an errand.

“An adult male patient was deceased prior to first response arrival,” the LAFD said in a statement obtained by The Post. “The patient was found by a bystander who had re-positioned the victim where the head was out of water.”

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Read more about Matthew Perry’s life and struggles:

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Perry, who had been playing pickleball earlier in the day at Riviera Country Club, wasn’t in his hot tub for very long before he was found dead, according to TMZ.

The Emmy-nominated actor had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse and was candid about his decade’s long opioid and alcohol addiction in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” 

In his memoir, Perry revealed that he had attended 6,000 AA meetings, went to rehab 15 times, had 14 surgeries to try and mitigate the damage from his addiction, and had been in detox 65 times.

“The doctors told my family that I had a 2% chance to live,” Perry stated during a promotional interview for his book last year, after claiming that he almost died in 2018 due to a gastrointestinal perforation. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”

The actor, whose net worth was an estimated $120 million at the time of his death, according to Parade, once estimated he spent around $9 million trying to get sober.

Amid speculation, Perry’s friend Athenna Crosby, 25 — who saw Perry 24 hours before his death — insisted that the actor was “100 percent sober” now.

“In the interaction that I had with him, he was extremely positive, sober, acting normal, spoke very well, did not give me any impression that he was under [the influence of] drugs or alcohol of any kind,” she told Fox News Digital.

“So, I think people are speculating that this was a relapse situation. I just want to defend him and say that it was not.”

“I can’t know what exactly he was thinking or feeling,” she continued. “And, of course, he was his own person that maybe he had said, done or thought of things the day that he passed that I might never come to know. Not only is it hard to hear that somebody greatly admired passed away, but it’s eerie to hear that somebody you just spoke to passed away.”

Perry was never married and had no children at the time of his death.