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Matthew Perry dies at 54: The difficult life of our favorite 'FRIENDS' star

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Last updated on - Oct 29, 2023, 15:45 IST

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'Friends' actor passed away; found in hot tub

This Sunday morning many woke up to the shocking news of the demise of their favorite Matthew Perry, who was immensely popular for this character– Chandler Bing–on one of the hit TV sitcoms 'Friends'. The actor was found dead in a hot tub. He was 54. Warner Bros TV, which produced Friends, said "we are devastated by the passing of our dear friend Matthew Perry".

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How did Matthew Perry die?

As per TMZ, Matthew's assistant found him unresponsive Saturday morning at his home, just a couple hours after he'd completed a 2-hour match of pickleball. "Our sources say he was found in a hot tub, and there were no drugs found at the scene," the media reported.

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Matthew struggled to survive for several years

Everyone who knows him as ‘Chandler Bing’ also know about his real-life struggles. He fought addiction, while shooting for FRIENDS, in which he played a funny and wise-cracking character. He opened up on his health in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing which was released in 2022. Matthew had undergone 14 major surgeries on his stomach and at one point took more than 50 painkiller medicines. “I say in the book that if I did die, it would shock people, but it wouldn’t surprise anybody,” he said in an interview with People Magazine in October 2022.

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He was addicted to alcohol and opioids

In his memoir, Matthew wrote about his addiction and how it made his life tumultuous. "He wrote that he had his first drink at 14, but didn’t recognize the signs of alcoholism until 21. Since then, he estimated, he’d spent more than $7 million on efforts to get sober, including multiple stints in rehab," LA Times reported. He was addicted to Vicodin, Xanax, OxyContin, Dilaudid, methadone, buprenorphine/suboxone, and cocaine.

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His addiction started after a jet-ski accident

Matthew wrote his addiction to drugs started in 1997 following a jet-ski accident; this was three years after FRIENDS had premiered. “One time, In a scene in the coffeehouse when I’m dressed in a suit, I fell asleep right there on the couch, and disaster was averted only when Matt LeBlanc nudged me awake right before my line,” he wrote. “No one noticed, but I knew how close I’d come.” He gave up drinking in 2021. “I didn’t know how to stop. By the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble, but there were years that I was sober during that time," he wrote and adds that he was sober during the 9th season of the show.

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He had a near-death experience

Substance abuse led to a number of health complications in Matthew. Once he went into a coma for two weeks. In 2018 he underwent multiple surgeries, around 14, and was hospitalized for five months following a colon rupture which left him "with a 2% chance to live through the night," he wrote in his book. He suffered from narcotic bowel syndrome due to overuse of opoiods.

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He remained lost and numb on the sets of FRIENDS

Narrating another dark moment of his life in his book, Matthew says he did not get emotional during the last episode of the show when all the others were sobbing. “I felt nothing; I couldn’t tell if that was because of the opioid buprenorphine I was taking, or if I was just generally dead inside,” he wrote in the book. “So, instead of sobbing, I took a slow walk around the stage with my then-girlfriend," Matthew said.

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"FRIENDS had been a safe place"

“Friends had been a safe place, a touchstone of calm for me; it had given me a reason to get out of bed every morning, and it had also given me a reason to take it just a little bit easier the night before," he wrote. Matthew was never married. He was in a relationship twice- one with Julia Roberts; Julia played in the "The One After the Superbowl" episode of the FRIENDS.
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Top Comment

Hariharan Iyer

944 days ago

Hope you had something good to say for a dead person like his donations, etc...

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Matthew Perry dies at 54: The difficult life of our favorite 'FRIENDS' star

​'Friends' actor passed away; found in hot tub​

​How did Matthew Perry die?​

​Matthew struggled to survive for several years​

​He was addicted to alcohol and opioids​

​His addiction started after a jet-ski accident​

​He had a near-death experience​

​He remained lost and numb on the sets of FRIENDS​

​"FRIENDS had been a safe place"​