Jennifer Aniston was unaware Matthew Perry suffered feelings of 'self-torture' on Friends set

Jennifer Aniston wasn't aware of the "level of self-torture" her former co-star Matthew Perry faced while making their hit show Friends.

The actress appeared alongside Matthew for ten seasons of the popular comedy between 1994 and 2004, but it was only during the filming of Friends: The Reunion show that she realised how much he suffered inwardly in a bid to entertain audiences.

"I didn't understand the level of anxiety and self-torture (that) was put on Matthew Perry, if he didn't get that laugh, and the devastation that he felt," she revealed in an interview with the Today show.

During the reunion special, which saw the cast come together in public for the first time in 17 years, Matthew - who played sarcastic Chandler Bing in the show - described the extreme inner turmoil he experienced if he failed to make the studio audience laugh when he delivered his lines.

"To me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn't laugh and it's not healthy, for sure," the 51-year-old star said. "If I didn't get the laugh I was supposed to get, I would freak out."

Matthew went on to explain he would "go into convulsions" if a funny one-liner didn't get the reaction he had hoped for.

Jennifer, who played Rachel Green, said Matthew's revelation now "makes a lot of sense".

Fellow co-star Lisa Kudrow quickly expressed her shock when Matthew made the comments in the reunion episode, which premiered on HBO Max in May, saying: "You didn't tell us that then."