Is that…? The man walking through the streets of Los Angeles in a black shirt and black baseball cap is one of the many heroes of the 1990s.
“Friends” star <a href="https://www.world-today-news.com/friends-actor-matthew-perry-reunion-has-been-moved-to-march-now/" title="Friends actor Matthew Perry: 'Reunion has been moved to March' | NOW”>Matt LeBlanc (57, played “Joey Tribbiani”) has not only changed quite a bit on the outside – he has hardly been seen in public in the last few months. There was a break on social media and there wasn’t much else to see of the actor.
“Friends” star Matt LeBlanc has gone into hiding
He was last seen saying goodbye to Matthew Perry († 54) with his “Friends” colleagues in November 2023. Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home the month before. “Almost unrecognizable” is how the Daily Mail described Matt LeBlanc’s latest photo.
View the photo on X here:
Some fans were worried that Matt LeBlanc would be so bothered by the death of his series colleague that he would do something to himself. It was reported that Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox LeBlanc regularly visited his home and “kept an eye on him.”
Matt LeBlanc not only lost Perry, but also other people he was close to: including another “Friends” colleague, James Michael Taylor, who played “Gunther” and died of prostate cancer in 2021. LeBlanc appears to have been trying to protect his health and state of mind, one speculates „Daily Mail“.
The “Friends” cast (here in 2002): David Schwimmer (from left), Lisa Kudrow, Mathew Perry, Courtney Cox Arquette, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc.
In a move some are calling a “quiet retirement,” the actor is said to have taken inspiration from Jack Nicholson, who retired in 2010 after 55 years in the industry. “He is financially secure and doesn’t really want to be in the spotlight anymore,” an observer is quoted as saying.
LeBlanc is fortunate not to be plagued by the addictions that marred Perry’s life – smoking appears to be his only vice. But he seems to know exactly what burden show business can bring.
“I hardly left the house for years; I was burnt out.”
Immediately after “Friends” ended, he appeared in two seasons of the spin-off “Joey” of the same name from 2004 to 2006, earning a fortune. But he was very exhausted. Ten years after “Joey” ended, he said in an interview: “For years I barely left the house. I was burned out. Most actors call their agents and say, ‘What’s going on?’ I called my agent and said, ‘Please cancel my number for a few years.'”
Read here: “Friends” star about scene with Matthew Perry (†) “He hardly believed it when I took out my big breasts”
Perry’s death could also be a reason why he recently retired. Away from the spotlight, LeBlanc and Perry’s friendship extended beyond their television roles, with both even living near each other in the upscale Pacific Palisades. And when Perry died in his hot tub on the night of October 28, 2024, neighbor LeBlanc was the first from the “Friends” cast to pay his respects.
“Matthew. It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye,” he wrote on Instagram. “The time we spent together was honestly some of the best times of my life.”
Fans still devastated by Matthew Perry’s death can at least take solace in the fact that LeBlanc appears to be following his own advice when he said in 2017 that he wanted to “slow down and smell the roses.”
