Dubai resident Anthony Sebaly woke up to the shocking news of the death of Friends star Matthew Perry on Sunday. “I saw a lot of missed calls and Whatsapp messages and when I opened one of them, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I am absolutely devastated.”

Since moving to the UAE almost two years ago, Friends has been a constant companion for Anthony. “I watch at least one episode a day,” he said. “Initially, when I felt lonely, watching the show felt like I had my own set of friends here. It felt like they were my neighbours, my friends, my family. So, I had a very deep and emotional connection to the series.”

Perry, who played the role of quick-witted, wisecracking Chandler on the hit American sitcom Friends, was apparently found unresponsive in his hot tub. The 54-year-old had documented his long battle with drug and alcohol addiction in his memoir titled "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing".

Anthony even held watch parties of the 1990s series with his friends, where they got together in his apartment and binge-watched it till late in the evening. “There is something special about the series,” he said. “It appeals to every age group and situation. Even though the world has changed so much, Friends was timeless.”

According to the Lebanese national, his admiration for Perry multiplied after reading the memoir. “He was a true superhero,” he said. “The difficulties that he went through and how he overcame it was quite inspirational. He fought so hard to get clean and get his life back on track. It is so sad that he met such an untimely end and I think he is really going to be missed.”

Across generations

For 13-year-old Tanvi Menon and her mother Lakshmi, Friends is a series that binds them together. “I was always a Friends fan and when I felt like my daughter was old enough, we both watched the entire series together,” said Lakshmi. “Since then, we sporadically watched episodes, and we laugh and cry over them.”

For Tanvi, the series is very relatable. “It is sometimes strange to see a life with no phones and modern gadgets, but the emotions and friendship that is portrayed is still very much relatable, and that’s what I love about Friends.” In fact, she likes the series so much that last year her birthday party was Friends themed.

Lakshmi says that Perry will live on forever, “Chandler Muriel Bing was and always will be my favourite character for a number of reasons. Matthew may be gone, but he leaves behind a legacy that will continue to make people laugh forever.”

Social media was flooded with tributes to the American Canadian actor, who was also an accomplished tennis player. Many Twitter users called it “The One Where We Lost a Friend”, in line with how Friends episodes were named.

Afrah Najeeb first discovered the sitcom when she was in Grade 8 and since then it has been a constant in her life. “I remember when I was leaving for my further studies, I downloaded a season of Friends onto it,” she said. “Every time I visited Dubai for my vacations, I would download a new season because USBs had limited capacity back then.”

She binge-watched the series again during the pandemic with her husband. “I don’t know if I can ever watch the series the same way again,” she confessed. “My heart is broken. I feel like I have lost a close family member.”

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