Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the iconic sitcom Friends, was given the opportunity to leave the show during his battles with addiction. In a recent interview with The Times, the show’s co-creators, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, revealed that Perry’s struggles with substance abuse were noticed by the production team. Crane recalled a moment when they offered Perry a chance to step away from the series to focus on his recovery. “There was a point where we said to him, ‘Do you want to stop [being in the show]?’ And he was adamantly like, ‘No, this is really important to me,'” Crane shared.
Addiction’s Toll on Perry’s Life
Perry’s addiction issues, which began after a jet ski accident in 1997, were well-documented. In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry openly discussed how his substance abuse affected his life and his performance on Friends. He candidly described how his physical appearance on the show mirrored his internal battles. “You can track the trajectory for my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season. When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills,” Perry wrote.
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Despite his struggles, Perry credited Friends and the support of his castmates with saving his life. He described his fellow actors as a “family” who supported him through his darkest times, likening them to penguins who surround and prop up an injured member of the group until it can walk on its own.
Tragic End and Legal Fallout
Perry’s life came to a tragic end on October 28, 2023, when he was found dead in his Pacific Palisades home. The cause of death was determined to be the acute effects of ketamine, with coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine also contributing factors.
In the wake of his death, U.S. authorities arrested five individuals, including Perry’s personal assistant and two doctors, in connection with his death. These arrests shed light on the dangerous underworld of drug distribution that had ensnared the beloved actor. The charges against these individuals include conspiracy to distribute ketamine, a potent anesthetic that ultimately led to Perry’s untimely demise.
Read More: Two doctors among five people charged in ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry’s death
As the world grapples with the loss of Matthew Perry, Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman reflected on how she hopes he will be remembered. “Two things come to mind [about how to celebrate him]: one of them is to donate to drug treatment centers—let’s fight the disease. And the second way is to watch Friends and remember him not as a man who died like that but as a man who was hilariously funny and brought joy to everybody.”