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 from 1994 to 2004. Amid his growing popularity while portraying beloved funnyman Chandler Bing, Perry entered rehab twice. In 1997, he sought treatment for an addiction to Vicodin after a jet ski accident. He also suffered from alcohol abuse and was hospitalized in 2000 for pancreatitis. He completed another stint in rehab in 2001.
After getting clean, Perry focused on sharing his story. “I didn’t get sober because I felt like it,” he told The New York Times in 2002. “I got sober because I was worried I was going to die the next day.”
The actor reunited with the cast for a special that premiered on HBO Max in May 2021. In October 2022, weeks ahead of the release of his memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry told the New York Times that he’d been in recovery for about 18 months, meaning he was newly sober when the reunion special was filmed in April 2021.
Perry died at age 54 of an accidental overdose in October 2023. The autopsy revealed that his death was caused by “acute effects of ketamine.”
In a joint statement after his death, the remaining Friends cast members said, “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”
Scroll through the gallery below to revisit everything the Friends cast has said about Perry’s struggles through the years.
