Matthew Perry, the Friends star who battled addiction for decades before, during, and after he spent ten seasons in the ensemble of one of TV’s most beloved sitcoms, has died, the L.A. Times reports. Perry was allegedly discovered unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles; the paper’s source did not cite a cause of death. The actor was 54.
How Did Matthew Perry Die?
Los Angeles police said they are conducting a death investigation.
“Friends” star Matthew Perry died in his Pacific Palisades home Saturday afternoon, per law enforcement sources who spoke to ABC News. According to the LAPD, a call was received at 4:07 p.m. PT for a male in his 50s who was unresponsive. The LAPD says after arriving on scene no ambulance transfer was required for a call to that street. Perry was 54 years old.
There were no signs of foul play on the scene, according to law enforcement sources. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.
Matthew Perry was allegedly discovered unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles. Just days before Matthew had posted a picture of a pool on his Instagram profile:
Matthew Perry’s Incredible Carrer
Perry was best known for his longtime role as Chandler in the hugely successful “Friends,” which ran for 10 seasons on the NBC network from 1994 to 2004, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.
The series made international celebrities out of all six castmates, playing a close-knit group of young adults who shared space in one another’s apartments and met for coffee at the “Central Perk,” a fictional Manhattan cafe.
One of the major storylines involved a clandestine romance between Chandler and Monica Geller, the character played by Cox, which the four other friends – Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, and Ross – each discovered one by one. The two characters eventually marry.
The entire group came back together 17 years after the series finale for a much-ballyhooed reunion special that aired on HBO Max in 2021.
But none ever managed to rekindle quite the level of individual stardom and commercial success they garnered as the ensemble cast of what was for a time the most-watched U.S. television program in prime time. Each reportedly earned $1 million per episode at the height of the show’s popularity.
Hidden from the public’s view during much of the original run was Perry’s prolonged struggle with addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol, which he detailed in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead,” Perry wrote in the opening of the book.
In a New York Times interview published in October 2022, Perry said he had been clean for 18 months, telling the newspaper: “I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober.”
Perry recounted in his book that he had to be driven back to rehab right after shooting the episode of Chandler and Monica’s wedding.
Following “Friends,” Perry went on to star in three more network television ventures that proved short-lived – “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Mr. Sunshine” and “Go On.”
Throughout his career, he also logged guest appearances or recurring roles in other hit TV shows, including “The West Wing,” “Ally McBeal,” “Scrubs” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” His motion picture credits included “Fools Rush In,” “The Whole Nine Yards,” “Almost Heroes” and “Three to Tango.”