Since the world reported the untimely death of American actor Matthew Perry at the age of 54 due to the effects of ketamine use, many close friends have been encouraged to take stock of the actor's past life. Media. In the 1990s, Perry gained unprecedented popularity for his role as Chandler in “Friends.” All this thanks to his friend George Clooney, who at the time was working on another television hit of the decade, the series ER. “We have changed the way television is made,” said the Oscar winner this Tuesday, December 19, in an interview for the American newspaper Deadline, in which he took the opportunity to recall some of his experiences to remember the late actor.
Both met in the eighties when Matthew Perry was only 16 years old: “We played paddle tennis together. “He was about ten years younger than me.” According to Clooney, it was always his friend's dream to land a role in a comedy. And he got it. In 1994 Friends hired him for the role of Chandler Bing. “I was a child, and everything he said to us, I mean to me, to Richard Kind – actor of the sitcoms “Mad About You” and “Spin City” – and Grant Heslov – from “True Lies” or “Dante's Peak.” – said, was: “If I show up.” “In a normal comedy, I would be the happiest man in the world,” said Clooney, 62, during the interview, who also says that the studio where “Friends” was recorded , and the studio where “ER” was recorded was door-to-door, as both were owned by the broadcaster NBC and the production company Warner Bros. However, his extreme addictions prevented the actor from doing so, despite his supposedly ideal life to be completely happy: “I was not happy. “It didn’t bring him joy, happiness or peace,” the actor added.
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Matthew Perry struggled with substance abuse for years, particularly during his time on the famous television series. Perry himself admitted in his memoirs “Friends, Lovers, and That's So Terrible” that he could not watch old episodes precisely because they reminded him of that troubled past, and watching each season he knew exactly which drugs he was taking time abused at this point. Additionally, Perry confessed that he didn't remember the three years he spent filming “Friends” due to his drug abuse. “We didn’t know what happened to him. “All we knew was that he wasn't happy and that he had no idea why he was doing this and was taking 12 Vicodin tablets a day,” says George Clooney, who also admits that the actor's death “broke his heart.” . “Success, money and all these things don’t make you happy. You have to be happy with yourself and your life,” concludes the actor, who took part in a special episode of the famous series that aired in 1995, in which he played a handsome doctor alongside Noah Wyle, another ER actor.
Mark Wahlberg, Matthew Perry, Salma Hayek, George Clooney and Dylan McDermott at Showest '98 in Las Vegas. Jeff Kravitz (FilmMagic, Inc)
The news of the American actor's death shocked and continues to shock his followers and loved ones. The last person who wanted to remember her professional partner was Jennifer Aniston, who worked hand in hand with the actor during the ten seasons of “Friends”. When Aniston was asked in an interview for film magazine Variety last month how she would like the world to remember the series' late cast member, she said, “How much he would like to be remembered.” I was happy. He was healthy. He had stopped smoking. He got into shape. He was happy, that's all I know. We literally texted that morning, so funny Matty… He didn't suffer. I didn't fight. “I was happy,” he emphasizes. “I hope he can see that he was loved in a way he never imagined,” the actress, who enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the actor outside of the recording studios, concluded in the interview.
Just six days after his sudden death, Perry's family officially fulfilled one of the actor's dreams. So on November 3rd, the Matthew Perry Foundation was born. A charity with a clear mission: “To identify addiction as a disease, to combat the stigma that prevents people from seeking and receiving healthcare, and to campaign vigorously for better and fairer treatment,” it says own website. “When I die, I don't want friends to be the first thing mentioned, I want it to be about helping others. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life proving it,” the actor said on the “Q With Tom Power” podcast in November 2022, not realizing how short that period would be.