Gwyneth Paltrow pays tribute to the 'magical summer' she spent with Matthew Perry before he got his big break on 'Friends'

• Gwyneth Paltrow paid tribute to Matthew Perry by reflecting on their brief romance on Instagram.
• Perry died on Saturday from an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home. He was 54.

Gwyneth Paltrow paid tribute to Matthew Perry on Instagram by remembering the brief romance they shared back in the early '90s.

Perry, who played Chandler Bing in "Friends," died on Saturday at age 54. Authorities had discovered the actor unresponsive in his hot tub after responding to his home, per The Los Angeles Times.

On Sunday, Paltrow shared a photo of a young Perry on Instagram. In her caption, she wrote that she first met the actor in 1993 at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts, where they had spent the summer performing in plays.

"He was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with," Paltrow wrote. "We drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in the local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass. It was a magical summer."

The Goop founder added that this took place just after Perry had filmed the pilot episode of "Friends," but noted that the show had not yet aired.

"He was nervous, hoping his big break was just around the corner. It was," the 51-year-old wrote.

"We stayed friends for a while until we drifted apart, but I was always happy to see him when I did. I am super sad today, as so many of us are. I hope Matthew is at peace at long last. I really do," Paltrow continued in her caption.

Perry previously wrote in his 2022 memoir that he and Paltrow had a "make-out session in a closet" at a party before they were even famous.

When asked about the incident during an interview with GQ in October 2022, Perry said that he hoped Paltrow would "find it to be a cute story."

"It'd be bad if Gwyneth Paltrow hated me; I wouldn't like that," he told GQ.

Apart from Paltrow, several other celebrities and former co-stars have also paid tribute to the "Friends" actor, following the news of his death.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who went to school with Perry, also honored him with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.