The following article mentions addiction.
“Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”
“On second thought, gum would be perfection.”
“Hi, I’m Chandler.
I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable.”
What do these quotes have in common?
They were all uttered Matthew Perry’s most iconic character, Chandler Bing, of course.
On October 28, 2023,Matthew Perry was pronounced deadafter he was found unresponsive in his hot tub.
He was 54 years old.
“He was lovely to me on Friends and every time I saw him in the decades after.
c’mon read his book.
It was his legacy to help,” she wrote onX(formerly Twitter).
“He won’t rest in peace though..
He’s already too busy making everyone laugh up there.”
From athlete to actor to advocate, this is the untold truth of Matthew Perry.
In November 2020, he proposed to literary manager Molly Hurwitz.
“I decided to get engaged,” he toldPeopleafter breaking the news.
Perry and Hurwitz’s relationship began in 2018.
The relationship timeline had its rocky moments.
In May 2020,In Touchreported that the two had called it quits.
“It happened very recently,” a source revealed.
“It was very amicable, but they have both decided to go their separate ways.”
And while they did get engaged six months later, it did not stick.
In June 2021, Perry confirmed in a statement provided toPeoplethat he and Hurwitz had called off their engagement.
“Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them,” he said.
“I wish Molly the best.”
“Oh, my goodness.
“So, none of those.
… My answer to your question is: somewhere between [Seasons] 3 and 6.”
Perry tried to keep his addiction struggles off of his coworkers' radars to no avail.
“Eventually things got so bad that I couldn’t hide it, and then everybody knew.”
He touched on this again in a 2022 interview withGQ.
“The cast of ‘Friends’ knew.
And she said, ‘We can smell it,'” he recalled.
“And that didn’t stop me.”
Roberts appeared in Season 2 episode “The One After the Superbowl.”
The two-part episode, which aired after Super Bowl XXX, raked in 52.9 million viewers.
It is the show’s most-watched episode.
Sure, why not?
It was Julia f***ing Roberts.”
“I had been constantly certain that she was going to break up with me why would she not?
Finding sobriety was an arduous, years-long journey.
But it was a journey he did not give up on.
“Something clicked,” he told People in 2013.
“You have to want the help.”
The TV star committed himself to the game of tennis at an early age.
When he was in his teen years, he was nationally ranked in his home country of Canada.
So what stopped Perry from being the next Roger Federer?
“I was pretty great in Canada.
Not so much in Los Angeles.
It was insane.”
Two years later, Perry put the property on the market.
However, the “Friends” star had not moved on from this cause.
Rather, the property just wasn’t practical.
“So we’re looking at smaller places in Santa Monica and Studio City.
“I’m here, of course, to talk about Drug Courts because they save money.
They save prison space.
They save veterans,” he declared.
“Drug Courts are a proven budget solution.
This is why it is critical that Congress fund Drug Courts at a minimum of $86 million.”
And evidently, Perry wasted no time in getting into the acting game.
The rest is history.
It also lulled Perry into a false understanding of success.
“We had a lot of fun, but I was so young and naive,” he said.
“I thought, ‘This is where the big stardom starts.'”
“It was so terrific.
If we did a movie and it sucked, then it would, you know, blemish it.”
It’s safe to say that Perry had a huge appreciation for his character and the show.
No wonder he wanted to leave it be.
Perry and Caplan were a couple for about six years, but ended their relationship in 2012.
“He’s an intense, talented, focused character.
He’s very bright.
That was always the case as he was growing up.”
“Him being selected for a role like that does not surprise me one bit,” he revealed.
“It matched his particular sense of humor precisely.
That character is Matthew.”
“He gave me a car,” Morrison shared.
Becker, who received a six-episode arc, was played by none other than Favreau.
Perry’s first sitcom appearance was in 1987 in the aforementioned show “Second Chance.”
Perry played the younger version of Martin’s character.
The show was not a hit, so it was reworked and renamed “Boys Will Be Boys.”
His father, John Bennett Perry, was also a hardworking actor.
John lived in Los Angeles, whereas Matthew stayed in Canada with his mother.
“I didn’t blame myself quite yet,” the actor joked about the circumstance.
In a 2022 interview withPeople, Matthew reflected on the evolution of his relationship with his father.
And I was terrified,” he said.
One of the ways Matthew did connect with his father, however, was through the screen.
It was through their shared love of acting that the father and son bonded.
That’s my Dad,” he added.
It is known for being highly addictive."
Sadly, phenobarbital seemed to have an intense impact on Perry during the first few weeks of his life.
He also noted that he didn’t fault his parents for medicating him.
“It was a different time,” he wrote.
Because of this, he graduated high school with a lamentable 2.0 GPA.
And, sadly, this meant that many of Perry’s teachers did not see him going far.
I was also stealing money, smoking more and more, and getting worse and worse grades.
These words stuck with Perry for a long time.
Unfortunately, though, this unique link did little to help the two boys get along.
Whatever bad blood existed between Perry and Trudeau, however, eventually became water under the bridge.
“Matthew Perry’s passing is shocking and saddening,” Trudeau wrote.
Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew.
You were loved and you will be missed."
For Perry, there was no greater honor than appearing in that movie with someone as talented as Phoenix.
There was an aura around that guy.
But he made you feel too comfortable to even be jealous of him.
Unfortunately, Perry’s friendship with Phoenix would ultimately end in tragedy.
On the night before Halloween of 1993, Phoenix died of a drug overdose.
He was just 23 years old.
Naturally, the loss of a beloved friend and colleague hit Perry hard.
The actor wrote that he “sobbed” as he mourned Phoenix’s death.
And, when he did eventually venture to get sober, Matthew struggled immensely.
For Matthew, this was not only shocking but also unfathomable.
Compared to his own struggle, his father’s story of sobriety seemed almost like a fairy tale.
As Matthew would later write, “Excuse me?
You went for a walk and quit drinking?
I have spent upward of $7 million trying to get sober.
I have been to six thousand AA meetings.
(Not an exaggeration, more an educated guess).
I’ve been to rehab 15 times.
And you went for a f***ing walk?”
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration websiteor contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
