The creator of “Friends” wants fans to remember Matthew Perry for bringing him joy

Marta Kauffman wants us to highlight the positive as we remember Matthew Perry's legacy.

The Friends Co-creator recently spoke about her relationship with the late actor, who played Chandler Bing in the cult sitcom. “He's the one I've had the most contact with,” Kauffman said in a new 30th anniversary story for the British The times“About two weeks before [he died] he and I communicated via FaceTime and he seemed really good.”

Kauffman continued to think about how Perry should be remembered. “Two things come to mind [about how to celebrate him]: One is to donate to drug treatment centers – let’s fight the disease,” she said. “And the second option is to watch Friends and remember him not as a man who died this way, but as a man who was incredibly funny and brought joy to everyone.”

In the same story, David Crane, the show's other co-creator, recounted how he learned about Perry's struggle with addiction. “By the time we found out, we were already a family on many levels,” he said. “At one point we said to him, 'Do you want to quit?' [being in the show]?' And he said categorically: 'No, this is really important to me.'”

Shortly after Perry died last year from the acute effects of ketamine, Kauffman, Crane and executive producer Kevin Bright released a joint statement to Weekly entertainment about the actor. “It still seems impossible,” the trio said about his death. “All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him in our lives.”

The statement continued: “He was a brilliant talent. It's a cliché to say that an actor makes a role his own, but in Matthew's case, there are no more apt words. From the day we first heard him in the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.”

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Elsewhere in the statement, the trio said: “We will always cherish the joy, light and dazzling intelligence he brought to every moment – not just to his work, but to his life. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a generous and selfless heart. We send all our love to his family and friends.”

In an interview with Today After Perry's death, Kauffman said she was worried about him while filming “The 2021.” Friends reunion special. “Knowing that he had been through everything he had been through, and that with every surgery they gave him opioids for the pain and the cycle started over again,” she said, “I was concerned about what point in the cycle he was at [in] at this moment.”

The Justice Department announced Thursday that five people have been charged in connection with Perry's death: doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, Perry's personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, actor Erik Fleming's acquaintance and Jasveen Sangha, known as the “ketamine queen,” according to prosecutors.