by Davide Gorni
The actor who played Chandler Bing in Friends was found lifeless in his Los Angeles area home. Initial reports said he had been physically active for two hours and then died in his hot tub
Matthew Perry, Chandler Bing in the popular series Friends, has died at the age of 54. The American actor was found dead in his Los Angeles area home, in the hot tub he had at home, suggesting he drowned. Rumor has it that no drugs were found in the house.
According to the first rumors, Perry had been engaging in physical activity the morning before his death. After two hours of pickleball (a racquet sport similar to tennis but played on a smaller court), he returned home and sent his assistant with some errands. When he returned, the man called 911 around 4 p.m. local time because Perry was unresponsive.
Perry had received several Emmy nominations and was best known for his participation in the television series Friends, where he played the character of Chandler Bing for ten years. News of his death was reported by gossip site TMZ and the LA Times.
We are devastated. It was a true gift for all of us. Our thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and all his fans posted on the official Friends account on Sunday morning.
Addiction to drugs and alcohol
Matthew Perry was famous around the world for his role in the hit 90s sitcom, which aired for ten seasons and appeared in all 234 episodes. Matthew was affable, optimistic and willing to joke on screen. Recently he had spoken about his personal difficulties, particularly his drug and alcohol addiction: a memoir of heartbreaking beauty (“Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing”) in which he revealed shocking details about his life and past problems.
As the son of separated parents (his father had abandoned his mother when he was a child), he learned early on to use humor to get his mother’s attention. Perry was born in Massachusetts in 1969 and grew up in Ottawa, Canada, where he attended elementary school under Justin Trudeau, Canada’s current prime minister. At the age of 14 he came into contact with alcohol for the first time, which had a completely different effect on him than on his friends. While they were throwing up, he had felt a pleasant feeling lying on the grass: nothing was bothering me. From that moment on he started drinking and never stopped. By the time he got the role of Chandler Bing, he was already an alcoholic. In 2016, he said in an interview that he didn’t remember filming three seasons of Friends. Although Perry tried to hide his condition, his fellow cast members (particularly Jennifer Aniston) were understanding and patient.
The cast of Friends and the Perry House
Like penguins: When one is sick or injured, the others surround him and support him, walking around him until the penguin can walk on his own. The cast did that for me. So Perry had been going back and forth between rehabilitation and recovery for years. The only season where he was sober the entire time was season nine. And guess what movie I was nominated for Best Actor for? Maybe he should have told me something. Matthew Perry’s alcohol addiction worsened in 1997 after an accident on a jet ski: due to some very painful injuries, he began using an opioid painkiller, Vicodin, at times even taking up to 55 tablets a day.
In 2013, Perry revealed to People that he didn’t get sober until he was 43. The year before, he had converted his Malibu beach house into a facility for former alcoholics called The Perry House and has since tried to devote his time and resources to helping other addicts. “You can’t have a drug problem for 30 years and then expect to solve it in 28 days,” Perry said in a 2015 interview. “I have had many ups and downs and many wonderful awards in my life, but the best thing about me is that when an alcoholic comes to me and says, “Can you help me stop drinking?”, I say: “Yes, I know how to do that.”
Gastrointestinal perforation
In 2018, when he was 49, the actor suffered a gastrointestinal perforation caused by extreme use of opiates. After two weeks in a coma, my family was told that my chance of survival was only two percent. He managed, but as he recovered and his colon healed, the actor had to use a colostomy bag. When he appeared disheveled and overweight in public in recent months, he had expressed fears that he had slipped back into old habits.
The latest post on Instagram
Earlier this week, he was spotted hanging out at a Los Angeles restaurant, The Apple Pan
At lunch with a friend, looking disheveled and dejected. It’s strange that the latest post on Instagram shows him in a hydromassage tub: relaxing at night, listening to music on headphones and looking out at the city. A caption next to it. Oh, so swirling hot water feels so good? I am Mattman: a reference that followers immediately linked to his desire to play Batman, the fictional superhero.
October 29, 2023 (modified October 29, 2023 | 11:46)
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