Peacock’s latest special about Matthew Perry explored how his time on Friends, his addiction struggles and more affected him ahead of his shocking death.
Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, which started streaming on Tuesday, February 25, used footage from the actor’s past interviews and excerpts from his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” to highlight the ups and downs leading to his death at age 54 in October 2023 from “acute effects of ketamine.”
Perry rose to stardom playing Chandler Bing on Friends from 1994 to 2004. The sitcom, which focused on a group of friends in their 30s as they navigated life in New York City, also skyrocketed Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) and David Schwimmer (Ross Geller) to fame.
While filming Friends, Perry developed an addiction to Vicodin after a Jet Ski accident in 1997. That eventually led to alcohol abuse, which affected Perry’s performance on set and led to him being hospitalized with pancreatitis in 2000. Perry openly discussed going through detox in between seasons 6 and 7 of Friends and later making multiple attempts to get sober.
Matthew Perry openly battled addiction and other health issues while starring on Friends and his costars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer were by his side every step of the way, showing their support both in public and in private. The six actors appeared on the NBC sitcom for 10 seasons […]
Perry entered recovery but ultimately died after officers responded to a call of someone in cardiac arrest at a Los Angeles home, where they found the actor unconscious in a hot tub. Two months after Perry’s death, the toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office listed drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine — which is used to treat addiction — as contributing factors.
The actor’s death was ruled an accident and an initial investigation closed in January 2024 but was subsequently reopened. Five people have since been federally charged in connection to Perry’s death. Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy utilized past comments from Perry’s Friends costars to show the influence he had on those around him.
Keep scrolling for the biggest takeaways about Perry’s life — and death — in Peacock’s Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy:
His Challenging Childhood
Deborah Wilker, a journalist for The Hollywood Reporter, recalled portions of Perry’s memoir that discussed his mental health issues over the years.
“One of the most dramatic parts of the story is very early on he talks about being put on a plane by his mom when he was 5 years old. He couldn’t understand why there wasn’t anyone there with him,” she explained. “This is where a lot of this started — this feeling alone.”
Perry recorded his own voice for the audiobook of “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” which was used in the special.
“I was sent on a plane from Canada where I lived with my mom to Los Angeles where I would visit my dad,” he recalled in an audio retelling of his memoir. “I was what is called an ‘unaccompanied minor.’ For maybe a millisecond I thought it would be a fun adventure and then realized I was too young to be alone and this was all completely terrifying.”
Elsewhere in the doc, recordings of Perry’s voice detailed how he experimented with alcohol for the first time at age 16, saying, “I was with my best friends and they got some beers and I got a bottle of wine.”
He continued: “I drank the entire bottle and lay on the ground and looked at the skies and just felt better than I ever had in my entire life. I thought to myself, ‘This is probably what normal people feel like all the time.’”
Matthew Perry never shied away from opening up about his struggles after rising to stardom for his role as Chandler Bing in Friends. “When [fame] happens, it’s kind of like Disneyland for a while. For me it lasted about eight months, this feeling of ‘I’ve made it, I’m thrilled, there’s no problem in the world.’ […]
‘Friends’ Costar Speaks Out About Their Time With Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy repurposed past statements from Perry’s costar Hank Azaria and Friends creator Marta Kauffman. Morgan Fairchild, who played Perry’s onscreen mother on Friends, also participated in the special.
“Working with Matthew — and becoming his mother — was an interesting process,” she recalled. “Chandler wanting a normal mother and Nora never being able to execute being a normal mother because she is who she is. But she loves him.”
Fairchild was also asked about Perry’s addiction, to which she noted, “I tried to reach out a little bit to let him know I was there because I have had other people in my life who had trouble with alcohol and drugs. I told him I was there to talk if he needed to.”
The actress expressed pride in Perry’s influence. “I remember when Matthew first started to go public with some of his issues. I was terribly proud of him. It is hard especially in this town to admit you have any problem or there’s anything wrong,” Fairchild continued. “I thought it was very brave of him and I was very proud of him that he really wanted to help others who were struggling. He was trying to help people who were struggling even in the midst of his own pain.”
Fairchild concluded: “Matthew’s legacy is always going to be the relationship he and the cast represented to people all over the world. His legacy will be one of hope and joy and friendship and love.”
The Infamous ‘Friends’ Reunion
Max hosted a Friends reunion in 2021 where Perry opened up about being really hard on himself while filming Chandler’s scenes.
“I felt like I was gonna die if they didn’t laugh. It’s not healthy for sure, but I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh, and I would sweat and go into convulsions,” he said in footage featured in Peacock’s doc. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get, I would freak out. I felt like that every single night.”
At the time, viewers expressed concern about Perry’s slurred speech in the special. He clarified in a 2022 interview with Diane Sawyer where he explained how “emergency dental surgery” made his “mouth feel like fire” and resulted in his difficulty speaking while filming the special.
Kauffman, for her part, recalled her own worries about Perry’s sobriety journey after his death.
“I was concerned about him, knowing that he’d been through everything he’d been through,” she told Today in November 2023 about filming the special. “And every time he had surgery, they’re giving him opioids for pain and the cycle starts over again.”
Peacock’s special utilized an interview Perry’s costar Jennifer Aniston did with Sawyer when they were still filming the OG Friends series. “We didn’t know [about his addiction],” she recalled. “We weren’t equipped to deal with it. No one has ever dealt with that.”
Celebrities like Matthew Perry, Chrissy Teigen and others have been open about using ketamine infusion therapy to help treat mental health conditions. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), ketamine is a “dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects” and “can induce a state of sedation, immobility, relief from pain, and amnesia.” It […]
In His Own Words
“You can track the trajectory for my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season,” audio of Perry reading his audiobook stated in the doc. “When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol. When I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s a lot of pills.”
Perry’s tell-all with Sawyer was resurfaced as well, in which he shared, “Your disease is just outside doing one-arm push-ups just waiting for you. Waiting for you to be alone. Because alone, you lose to the disease. And I now finally feel OK and feel like I’ve finally got some strength.”
He continued: “I’ve developed some safety nets around this. For some reason, it’s obviously because I was on Friends, more people will listen to me. So I’ve got to take advantage of that, I’ve got to help as many people as I can.”
Some other excerpts from Perry’s memoir revealed his frustration with his addiction.
“I have lived half my life in one form or another of treatment center or sober living house,” he read. “Which is fine when you are 24 years old, less fine when you are 42 years old. Now I was 49 and still struggling to get this monkey off my back.”
Perry remained hopeful about his future.
“I hadn’t been there for anyone for so long, my addiction being my best friend and my evil friend and my punisher and my lover, all in one. My big terrible thing,” he continued in his memoir at the time. “I sensed an awakening. That I was here for more than this big terrible thing. That I could help people, love them because of how far down the scale I had gone. I had a story to tell that could really help others. And helping others has become the answer for me.”
The Investigation Into Ketamine Following Matthew Perry’s Death
Five people have since been federally charged for Perry’s death. Perry’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, and Perry’s acquaintance Erik Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha a.k.a the “Ketamine Queen” pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine.
“Ketamine was a very popular street drug in the 1980s. There is a synthetic form of it now,” Perry wrote in his memoir about originally being introduced to the drug. “Has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty.’”
Perry referred to ketamine as a “giant exhale,” explaining that he felt like he was “hit with a happy shovel” and would “disassociate” while receiving treatment.
Days after Perry’s death, the Matthew Perry Foundation was launched to help those struggling with addiction. Perry’s loved ones — including stepfather Keith Morrison — have attempted to raise more awareness about the disease in his name.
“As other people have told me hundreds of times, it doesn’t go away. It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time, and there’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain,” he told Hoda Kotb on the “Making Space” podcast in March 2024. “It’s not easy, especially for his mom.”
Morrison was asked if he was surprised by the loss, adding, “It was the news you never want to get, but you think someday you might. Yes and no, I guess is the answer to that.”
According to Morrison, Perry seemed to be “beating” his substance abuse struggles at the time of his death. “But you never beat it, and he knew that, too,” Morrison added.
Peacock’s doc also included Perry’s former Friends love interest Courteney Cox discussing how she still feels him with her.
“I’m so thankful I got to work so closely with him for so many years. He visits me a lot, if we believe in that,” she told CBS Sunday Morning in May 2023. “You know, I talk to my mom, my dad, Matthew — I feel like there are a lotta people that, I think, guide us. I do sense Matthew’s around for sure.”
