Matthew Perry’s sister has revealed the painful reality behind the Friends wedding episode, saying the family knew the actor’s addiction had become increasingly serious as he filmed the sitcom’s fifth to seventh seasons.
Mia Perry Bowick recalled watching Perry’s character, Chandler Bing, marry Monica Geller, played by Courteney Cox, in the season seven finale broadcast in 2001.
“We all knew how serious his disorder was, so there was this sense of, ‘Who knows what’s going to happen?’” Bowick said in remarks ahead of a new three-part Netflix documentary about her brother.
She added: “Watching that wedding, we all knew he wanted that in life. He wanted a partner, he wanted kids.”
Matthew Perry’s Friends wedding came before rehab
Perry later wrote that he was taken straight back to a treatment centre after filming the scene, despite it coming at what he described as the height of his success on Friends.
“I married Monica and got driven back to the treatment center – at the height of my highest point in Friends,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing.
He described it as “the highest point in my career, the iconic moment on the iconic show”, adding that he travelled in “a pickup truck helmed by a sober technician”.
The actor also spoke openly about the extent of his substance misuse during his time on the sitcom. He said he had fabricated back injuries and migraines to obtain prescription medication, while consulting eight doctors at the same time.
“I would wake up and have to get 55 Vicodin that day, and figure out how to do it,” Perry said.
He explained that his drug use was not about seeking euphoria, but about avoiding withdrawal and being able to sit at home and watch a film.
Perry died aged 54 on October 28, 2023, from the acute effects of ketamine. His family and friends will discuss his life and legacy in the Netflix series, which is due to be released on October 27.
In a statement issued when the project was announced, Bowick said it had taken her time to feel ready to share what it was like to love her brother “through all the complexity of his life”.
She said she wanted viewers to see him “as a whole person, not just as Chandler and not just as someone who struggled with addiction”.
“Matthew had a beautiful heart and a generous spirit, and even in his darkest moments, he could still make you laugh and feel loved,” she added.
The Friends cast members, including Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, will not appear in the documentary after reportedly deciding not to participate.
Perry had battled alcohol and prescription opioid addiction for many years and attended rehabilitation 15 times and 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Five people have been convicted over their involvement in his ketamine death, including his former assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
