The woman Matthew Perry was last seen out in public with is "so devastated" by his death.
Matthew Perry died at the weekend
The 'Friends' actor - who passed away at his Los Angeles home on Saturday (28.10.23) - was pictured at the Hotel Bel-Air on Friday (27.10.23) with a mystery brunette, and she has now revealed herself as 25-year-old model and entertainment reporter Athenna Crosby.
Athenna took to her Instagram Story to pay tribute to the late star, while also stressing they were not romantically involved and their relationship was platonic.
Sharing a black and white photo of the 'Whole Nine Yards' actor, she wrote: “I wasn’t going to speak about this but what I will say is I had the honor of knowing Matthew personally.
“I am so devastated from his death but felt it was in poor taste to talk about it publicly as the attention should not be on me but rather on him and his legacy and he was an extremely private person and I always respected that in our friendship.
“But indeed, we were friends and I was one of the last people to speak to him and see him before he passed.”
Athenna insisted Matthew was "so happy and vibrant" when she saw him.
She added in a follow-up post: "I want to emphasize that Matthew was in extremely good spirits and talked to me enthusiastically about the things he had coming up in his life. He was so happy and vibrant. (sic)"
The model urged fans to “refrain from any speculation surrounding his death” for the moment.
She added: “Know that man was on a comeback and truly deserved more time on this earth.
"Our entertainment industry has truly lost a legend. RIP. (sic)"
Athenna also told TMZ she and Matthew were just friends and had met through a mutual pal a few months ago.
She also showed the outlet a signed copy of the actor's memoir, 'Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing', which he dedicated to her as "the number 1 girl."
Tagged in Matthew Perry