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Jennifer Aniston just dropped a gut-wrenching confession -- her heartbreak over Matthew Perry didn’t begin the day he died ... it began long before.

The actress said in a new interview she and the rest of her "Friends" did everything they could to help Matthew over the years -- but his battle with addiction was a brutal uphill battle he could never fully escape ... and it felt like they'd been "mourning" him for a long time before he died. Getty

Jen told Vanity Fair that losing Matthew was devastating for them, and of course, his fans -- but admits she's relieved knowing he’s finally free from his pain. "There’s a part of me that thinks this is better," she said.

Jen and Matthew were undeniably close -- she’s opened up about him often since his passing, even marking

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