Lauren Graham is the latest co-star and friend to say goodbye to the beloved Matthew Perry.

The pair met in 2003 and were sort of romantic near-misses for one another. As the Gilmore Girl put it in her memoir Talking As Fast As I Can, Matthew was her “Friend Who I Almost But Never Exactly Dated” or her “FWIABNED.” They ended up co-starring many times through the years, including in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Odd Couple, and Go On.

Related: Matthew Perry’s Sad, Amazing, Complicated Dating History

Now Lauren is remembering how much happiness he brought her and everyone else. She told CBS Mornings on Thursday:

“No one made me laugh as hard. I mean, just tears streaming. There was just such joy in being around him and being his friend.”

Thankfully, she shares, Matty felt a lot of that joy himself. Particularly in the past year, after releasing his own memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. She explained:

“And I’ll say too, that this last year, he was so proud of the book he wrote and of how many people it touched… and it was a success that gave him a level of happiness that I hadn’t seen in him for a really long time. So that’s a nice memory.”

Awww! So nice to hear! Like everyone else, she’s heartbroken — but does take some comfort in having seen how happy Matthew was with how his book was helping others who suffered with addiction:

“It’s just a really tragic loss and he leaves his beautiful work behind and that’s something to be thankful for. And again, the book really meant something to him. So it was a really happy year for him.”

A “really happy” final year. That is some comfort.

[Image via Brian To/Joseph Marzullo/WENN.]

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