The Unknown Things That Came Out About Matthew Perry

When the sitcom ‘Friends’ first hit the small screen in 1994, no one knew just how much it would change the world - and the lives of all six stars. Matthew Perry, who hit incredible fame thanks to his time as Chandler Bing, was one to enjoy the ride, but things were far from perfect behind the scenes.

From his addictions to his tumultuous relationships and everything in between, the unknown things about Matthew Perry were cleverly hidden behind his humor. Tragically, that all came to an end on October 28, 2023, when the world lost a shining star.

The world stood still as news emerged Matthew Perry was gone

The world stood still on October 28, 2023, when news that Matthew Perry had passed away swept the headlines. The actor, who rose to unbelievable heights of fame in one of the biggest sitcoms of all time, 'Friends,' was just 54 years old. Apparently, Matthew was found at his Los Angeles home, but no one could understand what happened.

It's said that the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived at Matthew's house at 4:07 pm on the Saturday, and it wasn't long before law enforcement was on the scene. In a statement to People magazine, Matthew's family stated they were "heartbroken by the tragic loss" after he "brought so much joy to the world" through his acting and friendship.

An LAFD spokesperson admitted a bystander made the emergency call

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department later spoke about what happened a little more, telling People magazine that they knew “An adult male patient” had been “found by a bystander.” They added the person “had repositioned the victim” as they were found in a jacuzzi but immediately knew the patient had already passed away.

The news came after a haunting last social media post from Matthew Perry, who posed in a jacuzzi just days before his passing. However, the spokesperson added they didn’t initially know who was involved. Apparently, the bystander confirmed the man was in his 50s, but they didn’t verify their identity while making the 911 phone call.

Initial reports claimed that Matthew Perry had drowned on October 28, 2023

At first, it seemed as though Matthew Perry had drowned while in his jacuzzi, but there might have been more to the story. It wasn’t until hours later that TMZ started to talk more about what was going on. They reported that sources claimed the first responders were called because Matthew had suffered a cardiac arrest.

TMZ also added that no illegal narcotics were found at the scene and that it wasn’t being treated as suspicious. However, when TMZ obtained the 911 dispatch call, there was mention of a “drowning,” which might have added to the confusion. Even so, it could take weeks until we know what really happened on October 28.

Further tests are needed to learn about Matthew Perry’s true cause of passing

As soon as it was declared that Matthew Perry had, indeed, lost his life, an investigation was launched to find out what had happened. The day after Matthew’s body was found, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office updated its online record, listing his cause of passing as “deferred.” This is used when further tests are needed.

Apparently, there was no obvious sign as to why Matthew lost his life, meaning they need to wait for results from toxicology reports. Although the autopsy has already been completed, it could take weeks for the reports to come back. From there, investigators will use the results to see if anything he took could have caused Matthew to pass away.

Matthew Perry had already been particularly open about his health

The news of Matthew Perry’s passing was a hugely tragic moment, but this isn’t the first time we’ve learned about some of the biggest struggles the actor has faced throughout his life. In fact, in November 2022, we learned more about Matthew than ever before with the release of his memoir, ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.’

Here, Matthew spoke about almost losing his life in 2019 when his colon burst following years of narcotics use. Here, Matthew wrote that his family was told he had a 2% chance of survival before his seven-hour surgery, a two-week coma, and five months in hospital, alongside a colostomy bag that was fitted for nine months and 14 more surgeries.

Matthew Perry admitted to drinking heavily, but things took a turn following an accident

Matthew Perry’s memoir also gave us a chance to learn about where his addictions really started - and just how much of an effect it had on his life in the years that followed. By the time the actor signed up for ‘Friends,’ he was already drinking heavily. However, Matthew admitted he was never under the influence while on set.

This continued for the first two seasons, but things took a turn in 1996. Matthew was working on the rom-com ‘Fools Rush In’ alongside Salma Hayek when he suffered a jet ski accident that changed everything. The pain medication became Matthew’s latest addiction, with the star admitting he was “entrenched in a lot of trouble” by the end of ‘Friends.’

The actor eventually forgot filming many seasons of Friends

At the time, no one on the outside knew anything going on behind the scenes in Matthew Perry’s life. In fact, it wasn’t until years later that he opened up and spoke about his addictions, with most of the world assuming he had everything he could need. After all, Matthew was on the biggest show and bringing in big bucks.

Sadly, that was far from the case. Matthew later admitted he dropped down to just 128 pounds and was taking as many as 55 pain medication tablets a day. In fact, in 2016, the actor confessed that he didn’t remember even working on three seasons of ‘Friends’ as he was a “little out of it at the time.”

Matthew Perry admitted fans can look back and see what addiction was controlling his life

Plenty of actors have shared their struggles with watching themselves on screen, but it seems Matthew Perry had a devastating reason that he found it so hard to watch ‘Friends.’ He was at the height of his drink and narcotics addictions at the time and admitted you can always tell what was dominating his life.

According to Matthew’s memoir, when he was “carrying weight,” it was his drinking addiction. When “[he’s] skinny,” it’s narcotics and pain medication. Then “when [he has] a goatee,” it’s “a lot” of the latter. While Matthew continued to make us laugh as Chandler Bing, it was all a facade to hide what was happening behind closed doors.

Jennifer Aniston was the one to confront Matthew Perry about his addictions

Things continued to develop in Matthew Perry’s life for years, but it eventually caught up to the actor when he was confronted by a co-star. Of course, Jennifer Aniston was one of the other stars of ‘Friends’ and rose to fame during her time as Rachel Green on the show. However, she was also the one to speak up.

In his memoir, Matthew admitted it was “devastating” when Jennifer stated, “I know you’re drinking.” After trying to find out how she knew about his addictions, Jen added, “We can smell it.” The issue? The “we.” Matthew suddenly realized everyone knew, adding that “the plural” really “hit me like a sledgehammer.” Suddenly, his addictions were no longer a secret.

The actor believed he was hiding his addictions, but nothing could stop him

Addiction can quickly destroy someone’s life, and it was something Matthew Perry was learning the hard way. For years, he believed he had been hiding it from his co-stars, adding he’d been so careful to never work while he had been drinking. However, Matthew said he would have done anything to fuel his addictions, even if it cost him everything.

When talking to People magazine in 2022, Matthew claimed he would “start packing” if the police told him one more drink would have him arrested, calling it a “disease.” Matthew also added that it was “progressive,” meaning “it gets worse and worse as you get older.” Amazingly, the confrontation suddenly meant he was no longer alone in his struggles.

His Friends co-stars all helped Matthew Perry overcome his addictions

Having worked together for so many years meant the cast of ‘Friends’ had grown to become a real-life family, even when the cameras stopped rolling. Plus, even though all six stars had been building their careers, this was just the start of great things, meaning they all seemed to understand how everyone else was feeling.

In his 2022 People magazine interview, Matthew Perry admitted his co-stars were “understanding” and “patient.” almost “like penguins.” The actor confessed that “other penguins surround it and prop it up” when one of them is sick, stating, “That’s kind of what the cast did for me” as they all tried to help him overcome his demons.

Matthew Perry believed that Friends would be the thing to change his life

Knowing what we do about the stars of ‘Friends’ now, it might be little surprise that they got to inject some of their own personality into their characters. Tragically, Matthew Perry’s humor wasn’t coming from a place of having fun; it was about covering up his personal life in a bid to hide his true emotions.

Matthew admitted to People magazine that he believed landing ‘Friends’ meant that he could “[be] funny all the time” and that “was how I would get through.” Eventually, the actor started to believe that the show “was going to fix everything.” The reality? “It didn’t.” Instead, it was like putting a bandaid over a broken bone.

He admitted no one would be surprised if he lost his life

It wasn’t until ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing’ hit the shelves in November 2022 that most of the world got to learn about the extent of Matthew Perry’s addictions and health woes. When talking to People magazine, he admitted he thought fans would “be surprised at how bad it got at certain times.”

To make matters worse, Matthew added that when people learned the truth, it “would shock people” if one of his relapses took his life, but “it wouldn’t surprise anybody.” The star confessed, “that’s a very scary thing to be living with,” but hoped that his memoir would be able to help others who might be struggling with addiction.

Jennifer Aniston continued to reach out to Matthew Perry over the years

Even though all of his ‘Friends’ co-stars were there to help Matthew Perry when he was at the height of his addictions, there was one who stood by his side throughout the years: Jennifer Aniston. After all, she was the first to reach out to Matthew on the set of the show and set his recovery in motion.

However, Matthew told Diane Sawyer in 2022 that Jen really went above and beyond throughout his life. Here, the actor admitted Jennifer “was the one that reached out the most” and how “grateful” he was to have her as a friend. As a result, Matthew aimed to make his book the Jen someone needed in their life.

Matthew Perry admitted to checking into rehab at least 15 times and spending millions of dollars

Being confronted by his closest friends was the shock that Matthew Perry needed. Tragically, his recovery and beating his addictions wasn’t something that was going to happen overnight. Instead, ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing’ revealed that Matthew had been to rehab at least 15 times throughout his life. That was just the beginning.

Matthew added his rehab stints had been incredibly costly, writing he spent over $7 million on bills before later telling the New York Times it was likely more like $9 million. In his memoir, Matthew added he had been going “to therapy twice a week for thirty years” and “in a mental institution,” all to try and win the battle.

His addictions also cost him millions when it came to his job roles

Millions of dollars might have gone toward Matthew Perry’s rehab bills, but that wasn’t all his addictions cost him. While battling drink and narcotics, the actor also had to try and work. Apparently, while filming the rom-com movie ‘Serving Sara’ in 2002, Matthew was drinking a quart of drink and taking multiple narcotics on the set.

This would allegedly cause the actor to “show up,” “pass out,” “wake up” for a scene,” and “scream into a camera for two minutes.” Eventually, Matthew had to pay $650,000 to temporarily shut down the production and re-record his lines as he went to rehab, adding he “recorded my slurred parts” and “[bent] over backward to make things right.”

The actor suffered from pancreatitis in between his rehab stays

In between his first and second times checking into rehab, Matthew Perry faced more health complications. This time, it was acute pancreatitis that caused him to end up in the hospital for two weeks and lose 20 pounds. Matthew later told Us Weekly that “You play, you pay” as his illness was due to “drinking hard and eating poorly.”

Shortly after his release from hospital, Matthew was involved in an accident as he crashed his car into an empty house. Thankfully, no one was injured, and no narcotics or drink were involved, with the actor telling Us Weekly, “The irony was terrible.” Apparently, Matthew swerved to avoid a van but admitted, “I don’t really know what happened.”

He was staying in rehab during his most prominent Friends moment of all time

Of course, Matthew Perry’s most notable role was as Chandler Bing, with his character getting one of the biggest moments of the show in season nine when he married Monica Geller, played by Courteney Cox. Apparently, this was the only season of ‘Friends’ Matthew ever filmed while he was completely sober, but he hadn’t left his addictions behind.

The actor admitted in his memoir he had a sober companion follow him to set before moving to a detox center. After filming the wedding, Matthew “got driven back to the treatment center.” The star knew it was “the highest point in [his] career,” yet he remembers it because he was “in a pickup truck helmed by a sober technician.”

The end of Friends marked a terrifying change in Matthew Perry’s life

What happens when something good comes to an end? Some look back at the fond memories, while others reminisce about the days they no longer get to enjoy. For Matthew Perry, the end of ‘Friends’ in 2004 meant he “felt nothing.” The actor confessed he had no idea if it was the narcotics or because he couldn’t feel emotions anymore.

Apparently, the moment hit the day after the finale was filmed, with Matthew left to consider what he was going to do next with his life. Suddenly, he had “no ridiculously high paying, dream-come-true kind of job to go to” and “no special someone in my life.” In the end, the actor felt it was “like falling off a cliff.”

Every new project seemed to fail before it ever began

For a while, it looked as though things were on the up. Matthew Perry starred in the crime comedy movie ‘The Whole Nine Yards’ in 2000 and 2004 offered up the sequel ‘The Whole Ten Yards.’ The problem? It bombed at the box office. From there, Matthew realized, “Hollywood decided to no longer invite Mr. Perry to be in movies.”

Although Matthew tried to find more dramatic roles, such as the lead in the comedy-drama show ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,’ it was canceled after one season. From there, Matthew launched his own projects, like the sitcoms ‘Mr. Sunshine’ and ‘Go On,’ but both were quickly canceled. Still, Matthew “wasn’t devastated by the lack of success.”

Matthew Perry apparently had no idea The Odd Couple had been canceled

2015’s sitcom ‘The Odd Couple’ seemed to be the turning point that Matthew Perry needed to turn things around. That was until 2017, when the star posted on social media that his face on the door “has been painted over with green paint,” telling fans it’s “safe to assume that we have been cancelled. #subtle.”

It appeared no one had bothered to mention to Matthew that the show was gone, but his co-star, Thomas Lennon, admits things might not have been as they seemed. The actor told Cinema Blend that the numbers weren’t looking good, with TV Line reporting a few months before that CBS wasn’t ordering any more episodes of the show.

Things began to spiral for the star before his first birthday

Things famously took a turn in Matthew Perry’s life while he was at the peak of his career, but things had actually been going downhill since he was nine months old. That’s the moment his dad, John Bennett Perry, left his mom, Suzanne Marie Morrison. As a result, Matthew was largely raised alone by his mother.

However, Matthew admitted in his memoir he was just a few years old when he was put on a plane to fly to see his dad in Los Angeles. To make matters worse, both his parents welcomed more children with their new partners. As a result, Matthew felt like he had no proper home and was quickly being pushed aside.

Matthew Perry started drinking from a young age as he worked toward a tennis career

One thing that many people don’t know about Matthew Perry is how he always planned to be a tennis star. While living in Canada, Matthew trained hard, often for up to ten hours a day, and was a top-ranked junior in the country with a huge chance of becoming a professional as soon as he was old enough to compete.

Sadly, things had already started to take hold of his life. Matthew began acting out by not studying at school, misbehaving, and beating up future prime minister Justin Trudeau while they were at school. By the time he was 14 years old, Matthew had also started drinking, something that became a daily habit by 18 years old.

Moving to Los Angeles saw him leave tennis behind in favor of acting

Matthew Perry learned from a very young age that he was susceptible to addiction, even if it wasn’t always what someone would think. To start, it was drink, with his dependency on drink getting worse as Matthew began acting. When he was 15 years old, Matthew moved to Los Angeles to live with his father.

However, the tennis competition was much harsher, so he switched from a career as an athlete to one on the screen. However, in ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,’ Matthew admitted that acting became another addiction. It didn’t “do the damage” that drinking was, but it was “getting harder and harder to wake up” after a night of drinking.

There was a time when Matthew Perry couldn’t be Chandler Bing because of prior commitments

‘Friends’ will forever be the role that Matthew Perry is most associated with, but there was almost a time that he didn’t appear in the show at all. However, it wasn’t because he wasn’t the right fit for the part or didn’t want to appear in the sitcom - it was scheduling issues. Apparently, Matthew already had another role.

Initially, the show was titled ‘Friends Like Us,’ and Matthew was desperate for an audition. The issue was the actor had already signed up for the sitcom ‘L.A.X. 2194.’ Thankfully for Matthew, the show wasn’t picked up, with the actor writing that seeing Chandler “was as if someone had followed me around for a year.

Matthew Perry often used his own personal struggles to bring Chandler Bing to life

Putting his own spin on the character was just the thing that ‘Friends’ needed to bring the final member of the group to life. As it happened, Matthew Perry had more experience living as Chandler Bing than anyone realized at the time, adding he often used his own experiences to help add more depth to the character.

The anxiety he felt through his relationship with his mother, feeling like he didn’t belong in a family, the desperate need to find someone he loved - Matthew didn’t just play Chandler; he was Chandler. As a result, Matthew admitted in his memoir he wasn’t “comfortable in any silence” and would always “break any such moment with a joke.”

Like Chandler Bing, Matthew Perry used humor to control his life

Throughout his time working with the show, Matthew Perry apparently told the creators that he felt he was “not unattractive” but that he had “disastrous relationships.” This quickly evolved into the character of Chandler Bing, who was known to use his wit and humor to fill in the gap of looking for love and acceptance from his friends.

Chandler ended up sweet yet conflicted and dysfunctional, leaving the world with a character who ended up feeling like he was the joke, not the one telling the joke. Amazingly, it was something the actor knew too well, confessing he would use his humor to diffuse any situation that made him feel uncomfortable or an awkward moment.

He begged the producers to change the way Chandler Bing spoke on Friends

Of course, the thing that stood out about Chandler Bing was the way he spoke. The mis-emphasis on words changed the way people spoke around the world, with his physical comedy and incredible timing adding something no one else could to ‘Friends.’ Sadly, it wasn’t without its drawbacks, with Matthew Perry becoming a victim of his own success.

In ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,’ Matthew wrote he “had to beg the producers to let me no longer speak like Chandler.” He’d had enough of the “annoying” emphasis and “cadence” and wanted out. Matthew added he thought “I’d explode” if he had to do it again, so he switched up the way Chandler spoke from season six.

Matthew Perry struggled to watch one of his most memorable Chandler and Janice moments

Chandler and Janice were Ross and Rachel before they were even a thing. In season three, Chandler makes a big scene with his “I’ve scared ya” speech when he decides he wants to commit and stop being so scared of settling down. The chaotic scrambling alongside “I’m hopeless and awkward and desperate for love” will forever go down in history.

Tragically, in 2022, Matthew Perry told Diane Sawyer that he found it hard to watch the scene because of the desperation he felt and just how sick he was at the time they filmed that scene. His addictions were at their highest, and he was just moments away from realizing how much they were taking a toll on his health.

The moment reflected the actor’s real-life want to find love

That’s not the only reason this particular scene was a troubling one for Matthew Perry. At the time, Chandler realizes that he’s scared of commitment, but he wants to turn it around by settling down with Janice. Sadly, that was true in his real life too. Seeing Janice leave sends Chandler into a tailspin - and it wasn’t all fictitious.

Throughout ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,’ Matthew speaks a lot about the relationships he got to enjoy throughout the years and how much he became the undoing of them all. As well as opening up about his addictions, Matthew is brutally honest about his self-sabotaging ways when it came to love and finding the one.

He believes a lot of his romantic issues stem from problems with his mother

Like many others, Matthew Perry felt there was a reason that he had issues finding a relationship, and it all came down to childhood issues with his mother. When she remarried and welcomed children with her new husband, Matthew felt as though he was no longer needed and just a spare part of the family.

In his memoir, Matthew quips that someone doesn’t need “a psychology degree” to realize “this had something to do with my relationship with my mother.” To make matters worse, he confessed to always being “attracted to unavailable women.” Apparently, as soon as someone was interested in return, Matthew “had no need for them” and lost interest.

Matthew Perry would flirt with Julia Fox through faxes

It might have been short-lived, but Matthew Perry’s relationship with actress Julia Fox in 1995 was hardly a secret. ‘Friends’ co-creator Marta Kauffman was desperate for Julia to be on an episode of the show, so she asked Matthew to reach out - and it wasn’t long before they started talking to each other through faxes.

Matthew admitted he would sit next to “my fax machine” three or four times a day and “watch the piece of paper” as it slowly revealed “her next missive.” He felt Julia was “placed on this planet to make the world smile,” especially himself. Amazingly, the plan worked, and Julia eventually appeared on a special episode of ‘Friends.’

The actor broke things off with Julia Fox when he felt “unlovable”

Tragically, their relationship wasn’t to last, and it wasn’t long before Matthew Perry and Julia Fox went their separate ways. Even worse, Matthew felt he was “not enough.” While battling his inner demons and addictions, the star confessed he thought he was “broken, bent, unlovable” by the end of their romance. Apparently, Matthew felt he had one choice.

Rather than “facing the inevitable agony of losing her,” Matthew decided to call time on his relationship with Julia, calling her “beautiful and brilliant” all these years later. To top it off, Matthew made sure to watch Julia collect her Oscar for the biographical movie ‘Erin Brockovich’ from his room at rehab, stating he was “incredibly happy for her.”

Matthew Perry admitted he was in love with Valerie Bertinelli even though she was married

Even before ‘Friends’ hit the air, Matthew Perry was trying his luck with married women. One moment came in 1990 when he appeared on the sitcom ‘Sydney’ alongside Valerie Bertinelli. He was just 19 years old while she was 30 - and married to Eddie Van Halen. However, Matthew didn’t hold back in ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.’

Here, he wrote about being “completely captivated” and “obsessed” with Valerie. Apparently, they even had a moment together while Eddie was allegedly passed out, but Valerie was “business as usual” the following day on set. While he hid his emotions, Matthew admitted the moment left him “devastated” even though he knew Valerie had “done nothing wrong.”

The star had begun to think about finding the right woman to complete his life

It seemed as though things were finally falling into place for Matthew Perry in the last few years. In May 2021, he got completely sober and told People magazine that he had finally “gotten over” his “fear” of falling in love. Getting sober left Matthew feeling “more confident” as he wasn’t “afraid for love anymore.”

In fact, it appeared Matthew was more ready than ever to find a woman to share his life with, stating that he was no longer interested in spending time with people he didn’t know or that he wasn’t into. Instead, Matthew told People magazine he was going to take the next person he fell in love with “seriously.”

Matthew Perry even confessed he was looking forward to having children

There was something else Matthew Perry wanted from life: to start a family. He admitted to People magazine that he thought “I’d be great” and he “can’t wait” to have children of his own, having grown up “with a lot of little kids around me.” Tragically, that moment never came, with Matthew losing his life before he got the chance.

It turned out the actor had also been thinking long and hard about what he wanted from a woman, adding he had been burned more than once by people who were “in it for the money.” Instead, Matthew wanted someone who was “self-supporting” and “who has their own wealth” so he could find someone who truly loved him.

He gave up his home to create a rehab center to help others

He might not have gotten around to starting a family, but Matthew Perry never gave up on his dream of helping people. In fact, he once turned his Malibu home into a rehab center for men in need. In 2013, Perry’s House opened its doors to men looking for a 12-step meditation and sobriety program.

The four-bedroom house wasn’t just Matthew’s project, as the star partnered with addiction specialist and interventionist Earl Hightower to make sure everything was perfect. Sadly, Matthew had to sell the house in 2015, but he vowed to find a more adorable place to continue running his rehab facility to help those in need as soon as he could.

Matthew Perry made it his mission to help as many people with their addictions as possible

Living such a roller coaster life meant Matthew Perry was used to the “ups and downs.” However, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he would always help to get someone battling addictions on the right path. In 2013, when talking to People magazine, Matthew admitted the public knowing about his addiction only made things easier for him.

Matthew admitted that being on ‘Friends’ meant “people listen a little bit more,” and he would “take advantage” of his platform to help others. The actor even confessed that the “best thing” someone can do on a bad day is to “call somebody and ask how they’re going” before “actually [paying] attention” to the answer.

One of his latest roles was supposed to be with Meryl Streep in Don’t Look Up

The last time we saw Matthew Perry on our screens was in 2021 when he appeared in ‘Friends: The Reunion.’ However, his final acting role came several years before in 2014’s drama miniseries ‘The Kennedys: After Camelot.’ Amazingly, Matthew was approached in 2020 about appearing in 2021’s sci-fi movie ‘Don’t Look Up’ before things sadly fell through.

Apparently, Matthew was asked about playing a journalist alongside Meryl Streep in three scenes, with the actor admitting it would have been “the biggest movie I’d gotten ever.” Sadly, Matthew was in rehab, having surgery at the time when medication stopped his heart for five minutes. CPR broke eight of his ribs, and he ultimately had to pull out.

Matthew Perry thinks the only way he survived was because he never gave up on life

His humor might have been a way to hide his pain, but if there was one thing Matthew Perry never did, it was give up. The actor admitted in ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing’ he had been working with a therapist to help quit narcotics, especially after learning he would need a colostomy bag permanently if he continued.

At the end of his memoir, Matthew takes a moment to thank his loved ones, calling them the “one thing [he] got right.” However, he also takes a moment to confess he “never gave up” and said, “I can’t take it anymore” when it came to his addictions. Instead, Matthew could “stand tall, ready for what comes next.”