“The best thing about me, bar none, is that if somebody comes up to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking. Can you help me?’ I can say yes and follow up and do it. That’s the best thing. When I die, I don’t want ‘Friends’ to be the first thing that’s mentioned. I want that to be the first thing that’s mentioned and I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that.” — Matthew Perry
We are all familiar with Matthew Perry’s iconic role embodying the witty Chandler Bing on the popular ‘90s sitcom “Friends,” but he preferred to be remembered in a different light. On Nov. 1, 2022, Perry published his memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir.” In it, he wrote about his childhood, his parents’ divorce and his teenage years as a nationally ranked tennis player. However, the highlight of his memoir is “the big terrible thing.”
Perry struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for over 30 years. He wrote about wanting to quit, the health complications that persisted due to the abuse and the 15 different rehabs he attended. During episodes 24 and 25 in season six of “Friends,” he was taking 55 pills of Vicodin in order to function. As a result of Perry’s strong addiction and angst to become clean, he decided to dedicate his life to helping others reach sobriety.
One of the people he helped, Hank Azaria, responded to his passing saying, “I want to say that the night I went into A.A. (Alcoholics Anonymous), Matthew brought me in. The whole first year I was sober, we went to meetings together. As a sober person, he was so caring and giving and wise and he totally helped me get sober. I really wish he could have found it in himself to stay with the sober life more consistently.” With such a big and giving heart, even in the midst of his own addiction Perry helped Azaria for years with his alcohol addiction, allowing him to proudly say that he is now 17 years sober.
Reading “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” was a jarring and often uncomfortable experience. To think of our friend, Chandler Bing, in this light he portrays himself is mind-boggling to say the least. He speaks of his first drink as a 14-year-old, the spiraling toll it took on him and the near-death experience in grave detail. In 2019, he was hospitalized due to a ruptured colon as a result of opioid abuse. This quickly caused Perry to realize that he needed to quit immediately. He remained sober for 18 months, which is the longest he had gone sober. Even in his relapse, he was an advocate for sobriety and helped everyone in need.
In addition to helping Azaria remain sober for 17 years, Perry turned his former Malibu home into a sober living facility which he called “Perry House,” which ran for two years. Prior to his death, he planned to launch a foundation to further his mission of helping anyone in need. In tribute to our departed friend, those close to Perry brought his dream to life with the launch of the Matthew Perry Foundation Nov. 3, only a week after his death. With this foundation, he intended to create a help organization to pursue his assistance with people in need. Perry desired to open a facility that will tend to people with addiction issues, in a resort and aid manor.
On Oct. 28, we lost Matthew Perry to an unknown and questionable cause. An apparent drowning that leaves family, friends and fans in wonder. In his tribute of the Matthew Perry Foundation, Perry’s legacy will live on. Apart from his award-worthy acting and the joy he gave us in his role as Chandler Bing, Perry will be remembered by his alias “Mattman,” and the many people he has, and will continue to, save from a life of alcohol and drug abuse. Although Mathew Perry’s death has left the world with one less laugh, we will appreciate Perry for years to come.
**I dedicate this article to our beloved Matthew Perry. Thank you for the laughter, the tears and everything in between. Thank you for being Mrs. Chanandler Bong, for our “Friends” fans, and an inspiration to everyone else. You are missed, Mattman.