{"id":3416,"date":"2023-10-30T13:25:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T13:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/?p=3416"},"modified":"2023-10-30T13:25:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T13:25:07","slug":"remembering-the-life-of-friends-actor-matthew-perry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2023\/10\/remembering-the-life-of-friends-actor-matthew-perry.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Life of &#8216;Friends&#8217; Actor Matthew Perry"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_3422\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3422\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/399\/2023\/10\/matthew-perry-credit-s-bukley-shutterstock-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3422\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/399\/2023\/10\/matthew-perry-credit-s-bukley-shutterstock-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"matthew perry\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3422\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">s_bukley\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Matthew Perry, the actor best known for playing Chandler Bing on &#8220;Friends,&#8221; tragically passed away at 54 years old. Authorities found him dead at his Los Angeles area home.<\/p>\n<p>According to a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson, &#8220;An adult male patient was deceased prior to first response arrival. The patient was found by a bystander who had repositioned the victim, where the head was out of water. Firefighters pulled the victim out of the jacuzzi and did a quick medical assessment to find he was deceased.&#8221; The L.A. County Medical Examiner&#8217;s Office lists the case as open, with the cause of death deferred pending additional investigation.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to <em>People Magazine, <\/em>his family said, &#8220;We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother. Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend. You all meant so much to him, and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.&#8221; Warner Bros. also issued a statement about the star, saying, &#8220;We are devastated by the passing of our dear friend Matthew Perry. Matthew was an incredibly gifted actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros. Television Group family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I\u2019m heartbroken about the untimely death of my \u201cson\u201d, Matthew Perry. The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I\u2019m sending love &amp; condolences to his friends &amp; family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road &amp; Falcon Crest. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RIPMatthew?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#RIPMatthew<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QWMsBVJEAr\">pic.twitter.com\/QWMsBVJEAr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Morgan Fairchild (@morgfair) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/morgfair\/status\/1718471832796631092?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 29, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The statement continues, &#8220;The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many. This is a heartbreaking day, and we send our love to his family, his loved ones, and all of his devoted fans.&#8221; Perry was born in 1969 in Williamstown, Massachusetts, but was raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he attended elementary school with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. As a teenager, Perry moved to Los Angeles. After landing some T.V. guest spots, he recurred as Chazz Russell on &#8220;Boys Will Be Boys&#8221; from 1987 to 1988.<\/p>\n<p>Roles on &#8220;Sydney&#8221; and &#8220;Growing Pains&#8221; followed, but his big break came in 1994 with NBC&#8217;s beloved sitcom &#8220;Friends.&#8221; Perry played the sarcastic Chandler Bing for 10 seasons, landing an Emmy nomination in 2002. &#8220;Friends&#8221; was the most popular show of the 90s, with Perry and costars Courtney Cox, Jennifer Anniston, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, and Matt LeBlanc ultimately earning $1 million each per episode.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his success, Perry struggled with addiction behind the scenes, seeking help 15 times over the years. In 2016, he told Britain&#8217;s BBC Radio 2 that he didn&#8217;t remember filming seasons 3 through 6 of &#8220;Friends.&#8221; The actor admitted to abusing alcohol and Vicodin, which a doctor prescribed him after a 1997 jet ski accident. He said, &#8220;I had a big problem with alcohol and pills, and I couldn&#8217;t stop. Eventually, things got so bad that I couldn&#8217;t hide it, and then everybody knew.&#8221; However, &#8220;something clicked,&#8221; and he founded Perry House, a men&#8217;s sober living facility in his old Malibu beach home.<\/p>\n<p>The actor said, &#8220;The interesting reason I can be so helpful to people now is that I screwed up so often. It&#8217;s nice for people to see that somebody who once struggled in their life is not struggling anymore.&#8221; In 2015, he was\u00a0honored for his advocacy\u00a0by the treatment center Phoenix House, telling\u00a0<em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, &#8220;You can&#8217;t have a drug problem for 30 years and then expect to have it be solved in 28 days.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to gratitude, Perry said he learned that &#8220;everything starts with sobriety. Because if you don&#8217;t have sobriety, you&#8217;re going to lose everything that you put in front of it, so my sobriety is right up there.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Perry, the actor best known for playing Chandler Bing on &#8220;Friends,&#8221; tragically passed away at 54 years old. Authorities found him dead at his Los Angeles area home. According to a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson, &#8220;An adult male patient was deceased prior to first response arrival. The patient was found by a bystander&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":3422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[127,121,122],"tags":[869,866],"class_list":["post-3416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actor","category-celebrity","category-entertainment","tag-friends","tag-matthew-perry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Remembering the Life of &#039;Friends&#039; Actor Matthew Perry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matthew Perry, the actor known for his role as Chandler Bing on &quot;Friends,&quot; tragically passed away at 54. 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