Rosanna Arquette on Matthew Perry’s legacy: ‘He helped so many people’

Rosanna Arquette is always going to remember Matthew Perry for two things: his desire to help people with addiction and his love of grape soda.

Arquette, 64, talked to People Magazine about the impact the late Friends star had not only in her life, but also in the lives of the countless people he helped battle addiction.

“He helped so many people, people who were really struggling with addiction and it’s a really hard thing to kick,” Arquette said, noting that many of her own sober friends are “really upset and loved him dearly.”

Arquette played Perry’s on-screen wife in the 2000 crime comedy film, The Whole Nine Yards.

Arquette was also the real-life sister-in-law to Perry’s on-screen wife on Friends, Courteney Cox, who was married to Arquette’s brother, David Arquette from 1999 to 2013.

“He was kind, he was lovely, he was funny, he was sweet. He was a dream to work with. There was no bad vibe. It was just fun” she recalled about her co-star.

The Desperately Seeking Susan actress further recalled how the pair bonded over Perry’s love of grape soda, which was so intense that he “always had a can” on set.

Upon Perry’s shocking death on Saturday at the age of 54, Arquette acknowledged that she had “many wonderful sober friends that are really upset and loved him dearly.”

Perry detailed his decades-long struggle with addiction in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, admitting on a Q With Tom Power interview that were he to die, he wants to be remembered for his fight against addiction.

Honoring Perry’s wish, Arquette concluded, “He gave back, and that’s the legacy that we have to remember. That’s the stuff to remember.”