Matthew Perry, the actor most famously known as Chandler Bing in the hit 90’s sitcom Friends, has passed away at age 54 from an apparent drowning.
In spite of his incredible resume and numerous credits, which include lead film roles in Fools Rush In (1997), Almost Heroes (1998), Three to Tango (1999), and Emmy Award nominations for roles in The West Wing (2003) and The Ron Clark Story (2006), Perry suffered from addiction to alcohol and other drugs most of his life.
He discussed during the Friends Reunion Special (2021) that he always felt pressure to land the joke in front of the live studio audience every single night.
What’s more, he told The Times that “nobody wanted to be famous more than me…I was convinced it was the answer. I was 25, it was the second year of ‘Friends,’ and eight months into it. I realized the American dream is not making me happy, not filling the holes in my life. I couldn’t get enough attention…Fame does not do what you think it’s going to do. It was all a trick.”
He wrote a memoir that was published in 2022, entitled “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” which recounts his struggles with opioids and his early exposure to alcohol in his teenage years.
Since the time he began to recognize signs of addiction, he said he spent over $7 million to get sober, including multiple rehab stints. His substance abuse dominated much of his life, to the point where he “completely forgot” his time working on the set of Friends between Season 3 and Season 6.
Co-stars and fans rushed to the Internet to show their love, support, and grief for the legacy of Perry and his numerous contributions to entertainment. One example includes actress Maggie Wheeler, who played his on-again, off-again girlfriend Janice in Friends.
On October 28, 2023, Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub in his home in Los Angeles, according to law enforcement sources. He was 54.