Matthew Perry’s assistant was the last person to see him alive and has since shared his final words. Although the actor’s death was initially deemed accidental, startling new evidence suggests otherwise, leading to several arrests.
Known for his iconic role as Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends,” Matthew Perry was a beloved television star. Beyond his time on “Friends,” he appeared in “Ally McBeal,” and earned Emmy nominations for his work on “The West Wing” and “The Ron Clark Story.”
Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry on the set of “Friends,” 1994 | Source: Getty Images
Despite his successful career, Perry faced significant personal challenges, including struggles with depression and addiction, and he was open about these issues throughout his life.
Perry detailed how these struggles began in his memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” and how they nearly took his life on multiple occasions.
During an October 2022 interview with ABC, Perry spoke openly about his battle with addiction. “Your disease is just outside just doing one-arm push-ups, just waiting, just waiting for you, just waiting to get you alone, because alone, you lose to the disease,” he said, describing the relentless nature of his addiction.
By that time, Perry had attended 6,000 AA meetings, spent three decades in therapy, had been to at least 15 rehabs, and lived half his life in treatment or sober living facilities.
He also disclosed that he had undergone detox at least 65 times and survived 14 surgeries following a near-fatal medical emergency years earlier. He recounted a terrifying experience where his colon ruptured, requiring emergency surgery.
“I was put on an ECMO [extracorporeal membrane oxygenation] machine. An ECMO machine, when you talk to any doctor, is a Hail Mary. It’s the last thing that you do before people die, and there were five people that night that were put on an ECMO machine and I was the only one who survived,” Perry shared.
His downward spiral began in 2000, at the height of his fame while starring in “Friends.” During this time, he isolated himself for months and turned to drug dealers.
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry on the set of “Friends,” 2000 | Source: Getty Images
Perry started using prescription drugs after suffering an injury during the filming of “Fools Rush In,” a film he starred in alongside Salma Hayek. This quickly escalated, with 40 additional Vicodin pills being delivered to his home.
Believing he could manage his drinking by taking pills, Perry’s dependency deepened, leading to an addiction where he consumed roughly 12 pills a day.
Matthew Perry during “D Girl” Opening Night on April 4, 1997 in Culver City, California. | Source: Getty Images
