Matthew Perry said Jennifer Aniston didn’t want to do ‘Friends’ anymore: ‘That meant we all had to stop’

nypost.com:

be any more sad?One year before Matthew Perry’s death, the actor opened up about saying goodbye to “Friends” after 10 years — and how Jennifer Aniston was the one to initially bring up the idea.“The truth was, we were all ready for ‘Friends’ to be done.

For a start, Jennifer Aniston had decided that she didn’t want to do the show anymore, and as we all made decisions as a group, that meant we all had to stop,” the late star explained in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”“Jennifer wanted to do movies; I had been doing movies all that time and had ‘The Whole Ten Yards’ about to come out, which was sure to be a hit,” he added. “… Even though it had been the greatest job in the world, the stories of Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel and Phoebe had all pretty much played out by 2004.”Perry, Aniston and their co-stars — Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — kicked off the beloved NBC sitcom in 1994.

All fairly unknowns — minus Cox, who had been in a few films and danced with Bruce Springsteen in the “Dancing In the Dark” music video — the show ultimately launched their careers.“It was not lost on me that Chandler had grown up way faster than I had.

As a result, mostly by Jenny’s design, ten was a shortened season,” Perry went on in his book. “But all the characters were basically happy at this point, too, and no one wants to watch a bunch of happy people doing happy things — what’s funny about that?”The “Friends” series finale, titled “The Last One,” aired on May 6, 2004.