‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry dead at 54 after apparent drowning
- Publish Date
- Sunday, 29 October 2023, 2:08PM
Beloved Friends star Matthew Perry has died, TMZ reports.
Law enforcement sources have revealed that the actor was found on Saturday at a LA home where it allegedly appeared he had drowned.
Sources say that first responders had received a call to the property for a person suffering cardiac arrest.
Perry was reportedly found in a spa pool at the residence, with sources adding that there were no drugs found at the scene. It has also been revealed that no foul play was involved.
Fans flooded social media to pay tribute to the troubled star and praise his performance as Chandler Bing.
“Matthew Perry was able to put a smile on my face when no one else could,” one shared. “I hope he knows he made an impact on a lot of people,” another fan wrote.
Perry rose to fame for his role as Chandler Bing on the ‘90s sitcom Friends, where he featured in 234 episodes across 10 seasons. His character was much-loved as was his performance in the hit series.
While he became a household name after his time on Friends, he went on to star in many other television shows over the years, such as Boys Will Be Boys, Growing Pains, Silver Spoons, Charles in Charge, Sydney, Beverly Hills, 90210, Home Free, Ally McBeal, The West Wing, Scrubs, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Odd Couple and more.
He had also appeared in a few memorable films - most of which were comedies - such as Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, Three to Tango, The Kid, 17 Again, Getting In, and many others. He’s been mostly absent from the screen of late, not acting in a TV mini series since 2017.
While his onscreen persona was funny and upbeat, Perry suffered behind the scenes, most notably from his addiction to drugs, specifically painkillers, and alcohol. He was addicted to Vicodin for years, even while he was filming Friends, and had been in and out of rehab during peak stardom.
Perry got candid about the painful chapter of his life in his memoir, which was released last year. In Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, he detailed the struggles he faced throughout his career, such as his evident weight fluctuations on the show.
During his press tour for the book, Perry did a number of interviews where he got incredibly emotional about his public battle.
The actor never married, but he was briefly engaged to Molly Hurwitz a few years ago which ended only 6 months later. Before that, he’d been linked to Lizzy Caplan.
He was 54 years old.
This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.
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