Friends is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, but for those who were closest to Matthew Perry, there’s a much more somber milestone to be concerned with. It’s been one year since the actor passed away on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54, drowning in his hot tub due to a high dose of ketamine. On the anniversary of his death, Perry’s family opened up about his presumed relapse and the worries they had about his sobriety.
Matthew Perry’s mother Suzanne, stepfather Keith Morrison and three sisters all sat down with The Today Show to speak on the anniversary of the actor’s death, and even a year later it seems the family still has questions. He was thought to have been sober for 19 months at the time of his passing, and when Savannah Guthrie asked the family if it seemed he was still on that path, Morrison said, “It appeared to us as if he was,” while Perry’s mother shook her head no. The Dateline NBC correspondent went on:
Not to you? It certainly seemed like it to me. He had been treated with ketamine, but it hadn’t turned into something that he couldn’t control. Although, you know, 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.’ And so there was that worry that, let’s see, what’s he really doing?
Matthew Perry was undergoing ketamine therapy, but due to the date of his last treatment and the high amount found in his system at the time of death, an autopsy determined the therapy could not have caused his death. Perry’s assistant has since created a timeline of Perry’s last days, which included two doses of ketamine the day he died.
The worry that Matthew Perry’s mom and stepfather had over a possible relapse likely never went away, and it may not have just been them that Perry was hiding his problems from. The actor’s sister Madeline Morrison said:
I don’t even know if in his mind he had relapsed.
The family all seemed to agree with this sentiment. Still, Suzanne Morrison indicated that she felt something was off after an interaction she’d had with her son shortly before he died. She recalled having a “premonition,” saying:
I think there was something… there was an inevitability to what was going to happen next to him, and he felt it very strongly. But he said, ‘I’m not frightened anymore.’ And it worried me.
Matthew Perry was best known for delivering some of Friends’ funniest quotes as Chandler Bing on one of the best sitcoms of all time. However, the actor was open about his struggles with addiction, and he wrote in his memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing that he hoped to be remembered for helping people.
His family is assisting in those efforts, as they announced on the anniversary of his death the launch of the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada. That, of course, doesn’t take away the pain, as Suzanne Morisson said she misses her son with every breathe:
Even now something funny will happen, I’ll see something funny or something ridiculous on the news or whatever, I go to call him. I have more freedom of a relationship with him now than I ever did, and it hits me so hard that he’s not there.
Hopefully through the new foundation and the work Matthew Perry did in his life — including telling his story in his memoir — the Friends actor can continue to help others facing addiction, as well as their families.