Athenna Crosby, the woman seen dining with actor Matthew Perry the day before his death, has spoken out about their encounter.
Crosby publicly confirmed that she was the woman photographed eating with Perry at the Hotel Bel-Air on the day before his death at the age of 54.
She took to social media to share a statement, writing on her Instagram stories this Wednesday: “I wasn’t going to talk about this, but what I’m going to say is that I had the honor of personally knowing Matthew.”
“I am devastated by his death, but I felt it was in poor taste to speak publicly about it since the attention should not be on me but on him and his legacy. He was an extremely private person and I always respected that in our friendship,” she wrote alongside a black and white photo of Perry.
“But indeed, we were friends, and I was one of the last people to speak with him and see him before he passed away.”
In another post with a photo of herself at their lunch, as seen on TMZ, Crosby reiterated that she had no intention of speaking about Perry, but did so because she was identified.
She also asked people not to speculate about his death and shared what she believed was his mood during their meeting.
“I want to emphasize that Matthew was in very good spirits and spoke to me enthusiastically about the things he had ahead in his life,” Crosby wrote. “He was very happy and vibrant.”
“Know that this man was back and truly deserved more time on this earth,” Crosby added.
“Our entertainment industry has truly lost a legend. RIP.”
Also on her Instagram stories, Crosby posted a series of videos and said that she really wants to “shift the conversation” towards his grieving friends and family.
Crosby, 25, told TMZ that she was not romantically involved with Perry, whom she said she met through a mutual friend a few months ago.
She also spoke with “Entertainment Tonight” and said Perry was “doing great” and “cracking jokes all the time” while they were together.
Crosby said the actor talked to her about who he would want to portray him in a biographical film he was planning based on his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir.”
“He told me he wanted to make a movie about his life,” she told ET.
“And he had worked with Zac Efron in the past in a movie, and he said he wanted Zac Efron to play him as a younger version [of himself] and that he was going to ask him soon. He was looking forward to sharing more about his story and his recovery from addiction, and really advocating for that cause to help more people, so he was very optimistic and happy about everything he wanted to do.”
Perry and Efron starred together in the 2009 comedy “17 Again,” in which Efron played the younger version of Perry’s character.
