44-year-old Kelly Rizzo knows what it’s like to join an extended family of workplace friends – and, sadly, she knows what it’s like to lose someone who was an integral part of that greater whole. Following the sudden death of Friends star Matthew Perry, Rizzo has shared what her advice would be to the remaining co-stars of the NBC sitcom, rooted in very real, personal familiarity with loss and pain.
Rizzo first met Full House alum Bob Saget in 2015 through mutual friends. By 2018, they were married but they were ripped apart when Saget died unexpectedly in early 2022 at 65. Similarly, Perry left his family, friends, and fans shocked after he died in October at the age of just 54. Seeing the heartbreaking similarities in their situations, Rizzo has put to word what she would advise the grieving friends.
Kelly Rizzo shares her advice to the cast of ‘Friends’ after Matthew Perry’s death
Rizzo spoke with Page Six about grieving a loss that was so particularly sudden, unexpected, and close to home – all while involving someone treasured by so many. She could not help but notice “such parallels” between Saget and Perry’s deaths, and by extension what she, the Full House family, and the cast of Friends must be enduring.
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“I would just say that, you know, hold on to each other tight and be appreciative of the fact that you have such amazing people that that you’re surrounded by,” she shared.
“I’m sure that they’re really going through it right now, because the Full House cast did the same,” Rizzo observed. She continued, “Like, they were really a family, and the Friends cast, from what I know was like really, really, truly a family as well.”
Friends making up a full house
The cast of Full House, which includes John Stamos, Dave Coulier, Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and more, took on the dual task of supporting one another and being there for Saget’s widow, Rizzo. They were the support team anyone would dream of being surrounded by.
“They were so tremendous in helping me get through it,” shared Rizzo, “and I’m assuming it’s the same with them,” she added, referring to the cast of Friends, which was led by Perry, Jennifer Anniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, and Matthew LeBlanc.
The Friends cast confirmed their closeness in a joint statement following Perry’s death, proclaiming, “We were more than just castmates. We are a family.” During Aniston’s last conversation with Perry, Aniston found peace knowing “He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy.” Just as Bob Saget had done a full comedy show the night before he died, on the morning he texted Aniston, she said he was fully living up to the moniker she gave him, Funny Matty.
