KJ Apa breaks silence on Luke Perry's death: 'We had a really close relationship'

KJ Apa and Luke Perry pictured in 2016. Photo / Getty Images

KJ Apa says Luke Perry made him "feel comfortable and feel welcome" on the 'Riverdale' set.

The late actor - who played Fred Andrews on the hit CW series - passed away last month at the age of 52 after suffering a stroke, and now KJ, who played his on-screen son Archie Andrews, has heaped the praise on his kind and caring attitude.

Speaking on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, KJ said: "It's not every day you come across a guy like Luke. Luke is the kind of person who did everything he can to make whoever you are, no matter how big or small you are, feel comfortable and feel welcome. It's hard to kind of put into words how that makes me feel."

The 21-year-old Kiwi star went on to reveal Luke treated him like a son even away from the cameras, and would often phone up his parents to let them know how their son was doing.

Speaking during an appearance on 'The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon' on Friday, he added: "He would call my parents every week and keep them updated on how I'm doing. If I had a cold or something he'd be like, 'I got him, I brought some Gatorade to his apartment the other day.' He made such a huge effort from the very beginning. I wish I could be like that."

Prior to that appearance, KJ had only addressed Perry's death publicly with some simple Instagram posts.

One was a reference to the Third Eye Blind song The Background, which includes lyrics like: "Everything is quiet since you're not around, and I live in the numbness now, in the background."

The other was his favourite photo of Luke Perry with the message "Rest in love bro".

KJ told Fallon he chose the particular photo of Perry because, "I just think he's in complete and utter peace in that photo".

Earlier this week, Luke's final scenes as Fred in 'Riverdale' were aired, in which he was seen comforting his son after he was accused of committing a crime. As of the time of writing, it's not known how the show's writers will tie up Fred's storyline in the wake of Luke's passing.

Meanwhile, fellow 'Riverdale' star Mark Consuelos recently hailed Luke as "one of the good ones".

He said: "All the great things you've heard about Luke? They're all true. That's who he was. He was an amazingly generous, kind person. You can't fake that. He was one of the good ones."

-Bang! Showbiz