Matthew Perry's emotional final birthday gift to lifelong friend Lauren Graham revealed

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The Friends star and the Gilmore Girls star had been long-time friends

    Lauren Graham is getting candid about her relationship with the late star Matthew Perry, who passed away last year.

    Lauren and Matthew, rumored to have dated for a while, were longtime friends - and the star opened up about his final gift to her - "a pickleball set", she revealed during a Q&A for her book tour, which caused the audience to laugh.

    "He's like really into tennis and pickleball, with a card that said: 'Be older'", she added, explaining that the gift was for her 56th birthday in March 2023.

    Lauren clarified that "while he was not technically ever a boyfriend, he was an almost in my life," adding that he was "a friend and a constant."

    "We would stretch for a year, then he would come back in my life, and he had just come back in my life last year", she explained, calling his death a "terrible loss".

    "It’s still really hard to believe", she said of his death. 

    Lauren added that she had been able to take solace in seeing him at the time as "he was so thrilled with how his book was received — and not just because it was a huge success, but because his life’s work kind of became, 'How can I give back? How can I talk about the struggles I had and hopefully help someone else?'"

    The duo had been close, with the star calling Lauren "one of my favorite people" during a Q&A for the show adding: "We have great chemistry when working together and it’s fun to work with a close friend".

    Matthew passed away October 28, 2023 in his Los Angeles home. He was found dead in his jacuzzi by his assistant. The Los Angeles County coroner attributed his death to the acute effects of ketamine.

    Stars across the industry spoke out about the tragedy of his loss.

    Zac Efron made a special mention of the actor as he unveiled his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: "I really also want to mention someone that’s not here today, And that’s Matthew Perry, who was so kind and generous with me when we worked on ."

    The High School Musical star added: "Collaborating with him and Burr Steers was so much fun and it really did propel me and motivate me in so many ways. It really pushed me into the next chapter of my career and for that, thank you so much Matthew. Thinking about you a lot today."

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    Jennifer Aniston said of her Friends co-star: "He KNEW he loved to make people laugh. As he said himself, if he didn't hear the ‘laugh’ he thought he was going to die. His life literally depended on it." 

    She added: "And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard. In the last couple weeks, I’ve been pouring over our texts to one another. Laughing and crying then laughing again."

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