Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ Co-Star Maggie Wheeler, Who Played Janice, Reacts to His Death

In a time of great sorrow over the loss of Matthew Perry, Maggie Wheeler is remembering his joy. 

The Friends actress, who famously portrayed Chandler Bing’s on-and-off girlfriend, Janice, throughout the series, took to Instagram to remember her longtime co-star, who unexpectedly died on Saturday. Perry, whose portrayal of Bing has cemented him in pop culture history, was 54 years old. 

“What a loss,” Wheeler captioned a photo of them together. “The world will miss you Matthew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

A year ago, the actress had taken to social media to congratulate Perry on the release of his revealing memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big, Terrible Thing. 

She also came face to face with Perry and the rest of the cast again during Max’s 2021 Friends: The Reunion and revealed how Perry’s comedic talent inspired her character’s signature laugh. “Matthew Perry is so funny and the minute I set eyes on him and he opened his mouth, I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna lose it. I’m gonna crack up. This character needs a laugh because I’m not going to be able to get through a single scene with this guy.'”

While his main castmates have not yet broken their silence on his untimely death, other performers who appeared alongside him on the show have spoken out, including Kathleen Turner.

“I was proud to play his ‘Dad,'” she said in a statement to ET. 

Friends co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane and executive producer Kevin Bright reflected on the loss of Perry in a statement to ET. 

“We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing. It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives,” read the statement. “He was a brilliant talent. 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.” 

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