Millions of Friends fans celebrated Chandler Bing’s unforgettable wedding to Monica in the 2001 season seven finale, but Matthew Perry’s family watched the beloved episode with heavy hearts. In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry revealed that after filming the iconic wedding scene, he was driven straight back to a treatment center, despite being at the height of his career. His sister, Mia Perry Bowick, later admitted that watching Chandler get married was especially painful because the family knew Matthew had always dreamed of finding a lifelong partner and having children. Looking back after his death in October 2023 at age 54, she said there was always uncertainty about what his future would hold because of his long battle with addiction, making the joyful TV moment bittersweet for those who knew him best.

Bowick has now shared another emotional memory in Netflix’s documentary The One About Matthew Perry, recalling an unexpected moment during his private funeral that still stays with her. She remembered suddenly imagining her brother joking behind her shoulder, saying, “How messed up is this?” — a thought that made her burst into laughter in the middle of the heartbreaking service. She also recalled seeing Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow reunite as they stood together around Perry’s casket, holding hands and crying. The documentary, which premieres on October 27, also features unseen family photos and videos, as Bowick hopes viewers will remember Matthew not only as Chandler Bing or as someone who struggled with addiction, but as a man with a generous heart who never lost his ability to make people laugh, even during life’s darkest moments.