On October 28, 2023, the world lost one of its most loved artists: actor Matthew Perry. His acclaimed role was on the iconic beloved sitcom Friends. He portrayed Chandler Bing, one of the sitcom’s six titular friends. He was 54 years old. Perry was found unresponsive in his hot tub having drowned, and pronounced dead soon after. While the official cause of his death has been deferred, circumstances surrounding it could be traced back to his lifelong addictions to drugs and alcohol. Despite his successful career, Perry had substance and alcohol abuse issues from an early point in his childhood. What was his background with alcohol and substances? When did it begin? Did it affect his career and personal life? Could his story be an example to many others suffering from addiction?
Perry had a complicated childhood. His parents, John Bennett Perry (1941-), and Suzane Perry (1948-), had separated when he was only a year old. By the time he turned 10, Perry became a delinquent and started misbehaving. He stole money, started smoking at a young age, and his grades began to decline. He also got into physical fights, even beating up one of his classmates. This happened to be Justin Trudeau, the future Prime Minister of Canada.
Perry felt like he didn’t belong in his family, as his mother remarried and began having children with his stepfather, a Canadian broadcast journalist named Keith Morrison (1947-). By age 14, he became an alcoholic and was drinking daily by the time he reached adulthood at the age of 18. On the bright side, his acting career took off and he became a famous superstar after Friends premiered in 1994.
However, his addictions did not end there, and it only got worse. In 1997, after he filmed the second season of Friends, he suffered an accident while jet skiing. This resulted in him being prescribed Vicodin, and pretty soon, his addiction to pills began, taking 55 Vicodin pills a day. It got to the point where he would use certain measures to obtain more. Some of these included faking migraines, and searching medicine cabinets.
In addition, his drinking habits also influenced his acting career. While on the set of Friends, he made several efforts not to drink, but would regularly show up on set hungover. He also displayed signs of shaking and sweating. His Friends co-stars even attempted to stage an intervention for him, but it didn’t help. In February 2001, production on Friends was halted for two months so Perry could enter rehab for his alcohol addiction, and his addictions to Vicodin, methadone, and amphetamines. Perry also revealed that due to his drug addiction, he had lost memory of the past three years of his work on Friends.
After Friends concluded in 2004, Perry’s battle with addiction still wasn’t over. Perry stated that over the years, during and post-Friends, he’s attended 6,000 AA meetings, had 15 trips to rehab, been in detox 65 times, and has been on life support. Matthew Perry made millions of dollars in residuals from Friends. He spent between $7-9 million dollars trying to get sober and clean. Despite this, he was able to become an advocate for rehabilitation for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
In 2018, Matthew Perry suffered a gastrointestinal perforation. During this time, Perry nearly lost his life after his colon burst. It was discovered that his history of opioid abuse was responsible for this. For two weeks after that, he was in a coma, and doctors announced he had a very low chance of survival. In 2020, a year before the reunion special for Friends was released, he was a patient in a rehab facility in Switzerland. In order to obtain some more drugs, Perry faked pain. He was prescribed 1,800 milligrams of Oxycontin a day. It has been calculated that in addition to all of the money for rehab he spent, he had 14 stomach surgeries.
After Matthew Perry’s death was revealed to the public, his Friends co-stars, family, friends, as well as millions of fans, paid tribute to him. His apparent cause of death has been listed as drowning. However, Matthew Perry is just one of many celebrities who suffer from addiction. His issues began very early in his life, and life was difficult for him afterward, regardless of his successful acting career. It’s important that people do whatever they can to help others who are battling addiction.
If you or someone you know is battling addiction with narcotics and/or alcohol, please call the SAMHSA National Helpline, at 1-800-662-4357.
EDITOR’S NOTE: As of the date of publication, coroners determined that Perry’s death was caused by “acute effects” of Ketamine. (prevention.com)
Sources
https://variety.com/lists/matthew-perry-book-friends-drug-abuse-memoir-revelations/- Information
https://people.com/matthew-perry-favorite-friends-episode-jill-goodacre-vestibule-8405222- Image 1
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/friends-reunion-special-trailer-1171661/- Image 3