Lauren Graham reacts to good friend Matthew Perry’s death: ‘I am still in shock’

nypost.com:

is mourning the loss of good friend Matthew Perry following his death on Oct. 28 at the age of 54.“This last year, he was so proud of the book he wrote, and of how many people it touched,” Graham, 56, said on a “CBS Mornings” appearance Thursday. “It was a success that gave him a level of happiness that I hadn’t seen in him for a really long time, so that’s a nice memory.“I am still in shock.

I mean, it’s a really tragic loss, and he leaves his beautiful work behind,” she continued. “That’s something to be thankful for, and again, the book really meant something to him, so it was a really happy year for him.”The “Friends” star and the “Gilmore Girls” alum were linked in 2003, but the pair “never exactly dated.”“No one made me laugh as hard.

Just tears, streaming,” Graham added on Thursday. “There was just such joy in being around him and being his friend.”The pair co-starred in the 2008 indie movie “Birds of America.” In 2015, they once again shared the screen when Graham appeared alongside Perry in a single episode of “The Odd Couple.” She played his ex-wife on the short-lived CBS reboot, which ran from 2015 to 2017.During a Q&A for the show, the “17 Again” actor showered her with praise.“She’s one of my favorite people,” he said. “We have great chemistry when working together and it’s fun to work with a close friend.”One year after Graham’s “Odd Couple” appearance, she discussed the actor, in her bestselling 2016 memoir, “Talking As Fast As I Can.”“The only bright spot, dude-wise, was at an event where I met Matthew Perry,” she wrote.