Matthew Perry “truly didn’t” realize how beloved he was in the years before his death, according to his stepfather, Keith Morrison.
“There was a period where you’d pick up a tabloid and you’d see a picture of an overweight actor looking not great, walking along the street or going to a restaurant,” Morrison, 77, told People in an interview published Tuesday, October 29, one day after the first anniversary of the Friends star’s death.
“And he, I think, had [felt] that he failed. He didn’t understand that he was somebody who was loved — he would never have believed it,” the Dateline host — who is married to Perry’s mom, Suzanne Morrison — added.
Morrison said that his stepson, who played Friends favorite Chandler Bing from 1994 to 2004, began to acknowledge his cultural impact when he was promoting his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
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“He came back from the book tour and he still was pinching himself, [saying] ‘I can’t believe that people actually seem to like me,’” Morrison recalled.
Perry died on October 28, 2023, from “the acute effects of ketamine,” per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office. Perry’s toxicology report released in December 2023 also listed drowning as one of the contributing factors to Perry’s death, as he was found deceased in his Los Angeles home hot tub by the time first responders arrived on the scene.
During a Monday, October 28, appearance on the Today show to mark the first anniversary of Perry’s death, Morrison said that he believed the actor had his ketamine use under control at the time of his death.
“It appeared to us as if he was [sober],” Morrison told host Savannah Guthrie.
“It certainly seemed like it to me,” he continued. “Though he had been treated with ketamine, that it hadn’t turned into something that he couldn’t control. Although, he was a guy who would make decisions. ‘I can handle this. I can do this. I can tell you what’s right. I know the whole system inside and out. I know what the drug will do to me.’ So, there was the worry [of like], ‘What’s he really doing?’”
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Five people have been arrested and charged in connection to Perry’s death. They face charges including conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution of ketamine resulting in death, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and altering and falsifying records related to a federal investigation. Perry’s former assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, Dr. Mark Chavez and Erik Fleming have reportedly pleaded guilty, while the “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha and Dr. Salvador Plasencia have pleaded not guilty and will face trial next year.
“What I’m hoping — and I think the agencies that got involved in this are hoping — that people who have put themselves in the business of supplying people with the drugs that will kill them, that they are now on notice,” Morrison said Monday on Today. “It doesn’t matter what your professional credentials are. You’re going down, baby.”
