Friends reunion: Matthew Perry is comforted by Jennifer Aniston during emotional teaser

His character Chandler Bing famously admitted that he was unable to cry, leaving wife Monica Geller on a mission to bring on the tears. 

Yet actor Matthew Perry, 51, proved he wasn’t as restrained in real life as he broke down while filming the hotly-anticipated Friends reunion. 

A teaser from the one-off episode – which was shot in April and will air on May 27 via HBO and HBO Max – showed Perry being comforted by co-star Jennifer Aniston, 52, as he welled up. 

In the clip, Perry’s on-screen wife Courteney Cox, 56, states: ‘It was an incredible time. We became best friends’, to which Perry confesses: ‘Yep, I’m going to cry now’.

Dropping his head down and wrapping his arms around his body, Perry looks solemn as Jennifer leans over to comfort him. 

Season six, episode 14 of Friends was entitled The One Where Chandler Can’t Cry and aired back in February 2000. 

After admitting he hasn’t cried since childhood Monica, Phoebe [Lisa Kudrow], and Joey [Matt LeBlanc] do everything in their power to make him do so, including sitting him down to watch Bambi and Monica asking him to imagine her death. 

After the gang determine Chandler must be ‘dead inside’ he surprises everyone by bursting into tears after witnessing an encounter between Ross [David Schwimmer] and Rachel [Aniston] as he questioned why they couldn’t work things out romantically.  

The Friends teaser was a homecoming for the actors, who shot the special at Stage 24 at Warner Bros. Studios in LA, where the series filmed it’s entire 10-season run. 

The opening scene was certainly familiar as Aniston joined Cox and LeBlanc on their old couch for an updated trivia game with Schwimmer, Kudrow and Perry.  

Recreating a memorable moment from the show, David’s character, Ross Geller, stood at the trivia board. 

‘Rachel wrote Ross a letter and demanded he read it before they got back together. How many pages was that letter?’ he asked the group. 

Matt, who played Joey Tribbiani, screamed ’18 pages’ only for Aniston to correct him: ‘front and back!’ 

Cox screamed back, ‘Wait, wait do it one more time!’ 

Kudrow was overwhelmed upon walking onto set at the Warner Bros. lot as Matt enthusiastically said: ‘Here we go!’ 

Aniston proved to be already emotional as she asked: ‘Where’s the tissue box?’  

‘Does Courteney still have her lines written on the table?’ LeBlanc asked as he toured the old apartment set.

‘We have such a bond from this show,’ Kudrow explained while sitting on the iconic orange couch from the show’s intro.

‘Were Ross and Rachel on a break?’ host James Corden asked the group, to which Aniston and Cox yelled ‘yes!’

LeBlanc picked up his cup of coffee and muttered ‘bulls***’ under his breath while Schwimmer laughed and pointed.

Kudrow admitted the first table read was the ‘first time I laid eyes on any of you’ while Schwimmer noted everyone was ‘so perfectly cast.’

‘I remember I went to the producer of the show that I was on and he said, “That show’s not going to make you a star,'” Aniston recalled. 

Friends ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004, and was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, who executive produced the series with Kevin Bright through Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.  

It was reported in April that the reunion special was filmed over three days, with a live audience participating in the reunion.

A host of celebrities are set to join the cast in some capacity with guest stars including: Justin Bieber, Cindy Crawford, Lady Gaga and David Beckham.

Cara Delevingne, Tom Selleck, BTS, Kit Harington, Mindy Kaling and Malala Yousafzai are also slated to appear on the reunion.

The special is hosted by James Corden, a move that has not gone down well with fans, who questioned why the British comedian – who has no links to the series – was chosen.   

Though fans were left delighted by the teaser, there were also concerns after Perry appeared to slur his speech in a promo for the upcoming reunion special. 

The actor stammered and stared in the clip, even slurring together his words at one point.

When asked if he ever took anything from set as a souvenir, he admitted: ‘I stole the cookie jar that had the clock on it’ with a heavy ‘sh’ sound at the start of ‘stole.’

Though his speech was stilted, Perry’s physical appearance was on the healthier side. 

His castmates were able to hide any of their concerns, as David and Matt giggled and smiled at the TV star, who played Chandler Bing on the NBC hit. 

But fans were quick to voice their worries.

‘Just saw People interview and can’t believe how Matthew Perry looks like… seriously it breaks my heart,’ one fan wrote on Twitter.

‘It pains me to see Matthew Perry like this, he just seems off, gazing at the void, speaking slowly,’ wrote another.

‘Hate to say it, but I’m sad and scared like hell for Matthew Perry,’ a third added. ‘Damn, Matthew Perry in those PEOPLE Friends interviews.’ 

Another tweeted: ‘Just watched @people exclusive interview clip of Friends casts and the time hasn’t been kind. I hope Matthew Perry is okay. Damn how much I love them.’ 

One wrote: ‘Let’s not use the friends reunion to make fun of the way matthew perry looks these days. people age, funnily enough.

‘Matthew has been through A LOT since friends wrapped up in 2004. be respectful instead of judgmental. hard block me rn if you think making fun of him is funny.’

Perry has been open about his past struggles with addiction, previously telling People things got ‘out of control and very unhealthy’ after a 1997 jet-ski accident left him addicted to the painkiller Vicodin.

Addiction left Perry in a tough state, as he admitted to BBC Radio 2 in 2016.

‘I don’t remember three years of [the show],’ he said. ‘Somewhere between Seasons 3 and 6 … I was a little out of it.’ 

He told People in 2013: ‘I couldn’t stop. Eventually things got so bad that I couldn’t hide it, and then everybody knew.’

The actor, who checked himself into rehab during his time on Friends once in 1997 and again in 2001, told the Hollywood Reporter in 2015: ‘I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my life. I learned a lot from my failures.

‘But the best thing about me is that if an alcoholic comes up to me and says, “Will you help me stop drinking?” I will say, “Yes, I know how to do that.”‘

Perry’s addiction came about after he got hooked on prescription pills following a jet ski accident.

He did his third stint in rehab in May 2011, when a representative for the star said it was to prevent a relapse. 

Perry has not been seen on screen since 2017 mini-series The Kennedys After Camelot, but will appear in the comedy Don’t Look Up, which also stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, and is expected to premiere later this year.

The actor got engaged to literary agent fiancée Molly Hurwitz in November last year having started dating in 2018.