Matthew Perry, Chandler 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 actually found in the house.
Perry has received several Emmy nominations and is best known for his participation in the television series “Friends,” where he played the character of Chandler Bing for ten years. The news was reported by gossip site TMZ and the LA Times. Strange that his last post on Instagram took place in a bathtub.
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, especially his drug and alcohol addiction: a memoir of heartbreaking beauty (“Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing”) in which he had shared 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. At 14, he came into contact with alcohol for the first time and realized that it had “a completely different effect” on him than on his friends. While they were vomiting, he felt a pleasant feeling “lying on the grass”: “Nothing bothered 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. Although Perry tried to hide his condition, his fellow cast members (particularly Jennifer Aniston) were “understanding and patient.”
“It’s like with penguins: When one is sick or injured, the others surround him and support him, they walk around him until the penguin can walk on his own.” That’s exactly what the cast did for me.” So Perry had years Alternately, rehabilitation and recovery are carried out. 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 had worsened in 1997 after a jet ski accident: due to some very painful injuries, he began using an opioid painkiller, Vicodin, at times even taking up to 55 tablets a day.
In 2018, when he was 49, the actor suffered a gastrointestinal perforation caused by extreme opioid use. “After two weeks in a coma, my family was told I only had a two percent chance of survival.” 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. Earlier this week, he was seen at a Los Angeles restaurant, The Apple Pan, having 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, that good swirling hot water makes you feel good? “I am Mattman”: a reference that followers immediately linked to his desire to play Batman, the fictional superhero.