BREAKING: Jennifer Aniston says Matthew Perry's death is 'for the better' in bombshell admission

Actress Jennifer Anistonhas opened about Friends co-star Matthew Perryfollowing his death, admitting: "We did everything we could when we could." Speaking to Vanity Fair, she added: "But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight. As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better. I’m glad that he’s out of pain.”

Perry wasfound dead at his home in Los Angeles, aged 54, in 2023. He had died because of the “acute effects of ketamine” and subsequent drowning in his hot tub.

Perry has previously spoken about how Aniston reached out to him at the height of his substance abuse, helping him realise he had a problem. The actor recalled how the star, who played Rachel Green, approached him on set telling him: “We know you're drinking".

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Perry told ABC News' Diane Sawyer: "At the time I should have been the toast of the town, I was in a dark room meeting nothing but drug dealers and completely alone. [Aniston] was the one that reached out the most. He said her confrontation was a "scary moment", adding: "I'm really grateful to her for that."

Aniston is the cover of Vanity Fair for the second time. The previous occasion came following her divorce from Brad Pitt, in which she did a big sit-down chat. She says it was a "vulnerable time".

She admits: "I haven’t looked at that article in forever. I just remember the experience of doing it—which was kind of jarring. It was also just a vulnerable time. But yeah, that was one for the memoirs. Journalism back then felt more like a form of sport. There’s obviously some PTSD we all have, which is why these [interviews] scare me. How are they going to misinterpret my words or take something out of context?”She also admitted that she swaps stories with Gwyneth Paltrow about mutual ex Brad. “‘Oh, of course,’ Aniston says, ‘How could we not? We’re girls.’”

She also talked about rumours she was dating Barack Obama. “Of all the calls you get from your publicist…and then there’s that," she said.

Aniston revealed that she knows Michelle Obama better than she does the former president and even saw her somewhat recently. “I was lucky enough to have dinner with Michelle a month ago,” she says, and that the rumour “wasn’t even brought up” during their time together. “I don’t think anyone really pays attention to reports like that if you’re the subject of them.”

Opening up about her drive to find success, she says it was to impress her father. “‘Always wanting to get Pop’s approval—it was the thing that drove me and was also my biggest heartbreak: Trying to impress and prove your value to a man who’s only capable of so much.’ She felt that if she made it as an actor, ‘then he will love me as much as I love him.’”

Read the full story “The Next Jen” by Julie Miller in Vanity Fair’s September issue and on VanityFair.com