AFP
Shock over the unexpected death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry
Shock over the death of troubled “Friends” star Matthew Perry spread from Hollywood to his childhood home of Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the world would remember his “joy.” Perry, 54, was known worldwide for his portrayal of prankster Chandler Bing on “Friends,” the hugely popular sitcom that ran for 10 seasons between 1994 and 2004. Lifeguards found Perry unconscious in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on Saturday and were unable to revive him, police sources told the Los Angeles Times. Police confirmed that “an investigation has been launched into the death of a man in his 50s”. Perry, whose sarcastic and tender personality made millions laugh, struggled for years with various addictions and serious health problems. But his unexpected death was like a bucket of cold water to those who knew him. “With his perfect comic tone and ironic wit, he brought great joy to hundreds of millions of people around the world,” the NBC “Friends” broadcaster posted on its X account (formerly Twitter). In Canada, where Perry grew up, Trudeau called the news “shocking.” “I will never forget the games we used to play in the schoolyard.” And I know these people “The whole world will never forget the joy it brought them,” Trudeau immediately wrote. Numerous people piled up on Sunday Fans in honor of “Chandler.” Dozens of fans stopped for a few minutes to pay their respects despite the rain. Taylor Lanthier, a student from Vancouver, Canada, left a yellow rose. “I had seen him on Friends since I was 7 years old. And now I’m 26. He had a big influence on my life and he always made me laugh a lot,” he said. Pain behind the laughter – “Friends” told the story for ten years. The lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, their love stories, and their careers. It was a mainstay of NBC programming in the ’90s and early 2000s and was seen around the world. But even though Perry pulled one prank after another (and made a fortune), he was plagued by torment. The popular actor visited several rehabilitation clinics to combat his addiction to painkillers and alcohol. In 2018, he even suffered a severe perforation of his colon due to drug use, which required a seven-hour surgery and wearing a colostomy bag for several months. In his memoir “Friends, Lovers, and That’s So Terrible,” published last year, Perry described going through detoxification dozens of times and spending millions of dollars on repeated attempts to get sober. He dedicated the book to “all who suffer…” and wrote in the prologue, “I should be dead.” TMZ, a celebrity publication, noted that no drugs were found at the crime scene. – “I was a stupid boy” – Perry was born in Massachusetts in 1969 and grew up between Montreal and Los Angeles after his parents separated. His father was an American actor and his mother was a Canadian journalist who served as press secretary to then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s father. In a television interview with Perry admitted that he was not very proud when a friend and his friend chose his schoolmate Justin Trudeau. “We both beat him up. I think he excelled at a sport we don’t play, so it was pure jealousy.” he said. “I’m not bragging about it, it’s terrible.” “I was a stupid boy,” he remarked. As a teenager, Perry was a nationally recognized tennis star in Canada before permanently moving to California and pursuing acting. In the 1980s, he had guest roles on popular shows such as Charles in Charge and Growing Pains. He was the last and youngest lead actor to be cast in Friends. Perry and his co-stars collectively negotiated a million dollars per episode to end the 236-episode series. The six actors reportedly pocketed $2.5 million each for a show about their reunion in 2021. However, Perry’s confusing speech on that broadcast sparked concern. And he even surprised his co-stars by saying that he suffered from severe anxiety attacks “every night” while filming the sitcom. Perry appeared in films such as Only Fools Fall in Love (1997) opposite Salma Hayek and Falsas Apariencias (2000) with Bruce Willis. He was nominated for five Emmys, including two for guest appearances on the series “The West Wing,” but he never won the prestigious television award.amz-sms/mlm /ll/llu