On the afternoon of October 28, 2023, Matthew Perry was found unresponsive at his house in his hot tub. Tragically, he was found dead at age 54. Many knew Perry from his lead role on Friends, where he played the role of Chandler Bing. For instance, a fan of the television show, Leah Perlman, says when she found out about the death of Chandler Bing, she was shocked and concerned about his fellow cast members, and how they felt. “I will miss seeing him on screen.”
However, what some may not know about him is throughout the television hit, he suffered from alcohol and drug addiction, and this even cost him millions of dollars. Perry even refused to watch the show and never got the chance to watch the success of it. He told CBS that he would look at it and go, “drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine”. Furthermore, he told the reporter, “I could tell season by season by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see.” At one point his addiction had gotten so out of hand, he was hospitalized and put in a coma; his chances of living were slim.
Consequently, he had a life-changing realization that his life could be taken any second if he didn’t take care of himself. In Perry’s words, “I got sober because I was worried I was going to die the next day.” Perry took matters into his own hands and flew to California in order to get into another rehab center. The Friends star was thankful that his condition got so bad because otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken the action to get the help he needed.
Actor, Matthew Perry, also used his experience to better people struggling with sobriety by opening a sober house in Malibu for men. In 2016, he even wrote a stage play on his life and experiences. Matthew Perry’s goal was to help others find the help they need from substance and drug abuse, whether he was the one helping them, or finding them somewhere or someone who could. While Perry still struggled with this himself, he hoped to leave behind a legacy, “When I die, I’d like Friends to be listed behind helping people.” He wanted the world to know that he was more than just a star from a famous television show.
