Matthew Perry’s assistant and best friend shared a poignant message on Friday evening.
Briana Brancato, 34, took to her Instagram Stories hours after the Friends star was buried and posted a photo of an outdoor heater burning under a tree at the Hotel Bel-Air.
She captioned the upload: ‘Peaceful’, after what has undoubtedly been an incredibly traumatic time for the personal assistant.
Matthew revealed his close and loving – but platonic – relationship with the woman who was his personal assistant in his autobiography last year.
The person who frantically called 911 to report finding Perry’s body in the jacuzzi of his Pacific Palisades home was described as his assistant, but whether the caller was that woman — Briana Brancato — has not been confirmed.
In the book he revealed that he had one of his closest, long-standing relationships with her, although he never gave her a name, only describing her under the pseudonym “Erin.”
Best friends: Matthew Perry’s assistant and best friend Briana Brancato, 34, shared a poignant message to her Instagram Stories on Friday evening, hours after the Friends star was buried
Poignant: She posted a photo of an outdoor fireplace burning under a tree at the Hotel Bel-Air and captioned the upload: “Peaceful,” after an incredibly traumatic time
‘Erin’: Matthew revealed in his autobiography his close and loving – but platonic – relationship with the woman who was his personal assistant. He used the pseudonym ‘Erin’
He said she was his “best friend,” that she “saved my life” and that she even sat by his bedside every night for five months while he recovered from an exploded colon, featuring her in vivid, moving scenes in both the first and second films. and final chapters.
The late Friends actor said his relationship with his assistant never became romantic, but she quickly became one of his closest companions.
In his autobiography, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew said he met “Erin” several years ago when she worked at a rehab facility he attended.
“In the sober living home in Southern California, I had a view of West LA and two queen beds.” The other bed, he said, was occupied by Erin.
‘I had met her two years earlier, in another rehab clinic where she worked at the time. I didn’t get sober then, but I saw how great she was in every way and promptly stole her out of that sober rehab and made her my assistant, and she became my best friend.”
Briana has also been clandestine about her ties to Matthew at times, only mentioning on LinkedIn her work as a ‘Personal Assistant’ for an ‘A List Celebrity’ at Phil Shubano Inc.
But corporate records from California show that the company was controlled by Matthew and was named after a pseudonym he previously used to obtain prescription drugs.
In the wake of his death, Briana wrote on social media, along with heartfelt photos with Matthew: “I have expressed my deepest gratitude to him on countless occasions, not only for guiding me into a career I cherish, but also for the opportunity to care for him for 7 years.
Sad: Briana, who worked for Matthew for years, posted a touching tribute to her former boss
Sad: After his death, Briana shared heartfelt photos of the seven years she cared for Matthew
‘Along with the countless other experiences for which I am grateful. From witnessing his genius to sharing in his worldly adventures as he lived around the world, he took me on a remarkable journey.
“My heart is heavy, but celebrating my memories is the most profound way I can honor his legacy. I hope Mattman sends us signs up there, in the great beyond. We really need them. You will be in my heart forever. I love you Matty.”
In 2021, rumors swirled that he was in a romantic relationship with Briana which caused his breakup with his then-fiancée Molly Hurwitz, after he posted a photo sitting on a couch with his assistant just days after the breakup.
But in his book he insisted that his and Erin’s connection was never sexual, and described how she saved his life when staff at a rehab facility he was attending in 2019 tried to stop him from going to hospital after his colon had exploded.
The scene, vividly written in the book’s first chapter, tells how she pushed past the nurses, put him in her car and they sped to UCLA on a bumpy ride that left the actor unconscious from head-shattering pain.
“I have to go quickly,” Erin said, her brown, sympathetic eyes looking at me with concern and fear. “We have to take you there now.” It was right here that I lost consciousness,” Matthew wrote.
“She saved my life in rehab when my insides exploded, and she still saves it every day,” he later added.
The diligent friend and collaborator subsequently remained at his bedside for months, he wrote, recalling, “Erin worked the night shift at that hospital for five months.”
He wrote that the assistant even lived with Perry for a while in his penthouse apartment in Century City, and he described trying to sneak past her and a nurse to pick up OxyContin from his drug dealer when his doctors refused to give him more .
Residence records show that Briana did indeed live in Penthouse 40 at 1 Century Drive, the luxury tower that the Chandler Bing actor owned at the time.
Matthew also wrote about how he first bonded with Briana over their shared struggles with addiction, and his gratitude that she supported his sobriety by quitting smoking with him – “because she remains the nicest person in the world.”
He dedicated the last heartbreaking passage on the last pages of his memoirs to his ‘best friend’.
“She is always there when I need her,” he wrote. “Erin, Erin, Erin… She saved my life in rehab when my insides exploded, and she still saves it every day. Who knows what I would do without her; I plan on never finding out.
‘I can tell she wants a cigarette, but she doesn’t break it. Find a friend who will cancel something with you; you’ll be amazed at what that does for a friendship.’
Matthew died on Saturday at the age of 54. He hadn’t been in his hot tub long before his assistant discovered his lifeless body and tried to revive him, according to a new report.
Law enforcement sources report this TMZ that Perry’s body was not “soaked” when emergency services arrived at the actor’s home on Saturday. He was pronounced dead at the scene after firefighters lifted him from the hot tub.
