His last wishes are those of a man who did not want to continue living through Friendsbut through the fight he waged throughout his life, and who ended up winning at the age of 54. This Saturday October 28, 2023, Matthew Perry, star of the 90s alongside Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, was found dead in his jacuzzi. For the moment, the criminal trail has been ruled out, and investigators have indicated that no drugs were found near the body. The accidental track is prioritized, notably that of a drowning.
In November 2022, Matthew Perry had a series of interviews on the occasion of the release of his memoirs Friends, my loves and this terrible thing published by Michel Lafon, in which he returned without taboo to his demons, which had paralyzed and persecuted him for more than forty years. In this autobiography, the actor revealed that he had fallen in the hell of alcoholism from the age of 13, and having used his first drugs around the age of 15. An addiction from which he was never able to escape, despite the 9 million dollars he spent on around fifteen detoxification treatments and more than 6000 visits to Alcoholics Anonymous.
Interviewed by podcaster Tom Power almost a year ago, Matthew Perry spoke of his upcoming death, without imagining that it could happen less than a year later… He revealed his last wishes, arguing that he did not want the whole world to keep the image of him as Chandler, which had stuck to him for nearly thirty years, but that of a man who fought for years against the hell of Drugs : “When I die, I don’t want Friends is the first thing that is mentioned about me. I want my fight to be the first thing mentioned, and I’m going to live the rest of my life for that.” he told the journalist.
He campaigned for the creation of anti-drug courts
This alcoholism and drug addiction, Matthew Perry had made it his strength, and had campaigned during the last years of his life for the creation in the USA as in Canada drug courts, in which drug-related cases would be handled exclusively. Thus, the actor wanted to separate violent drug addicts from non-violent ones, so that the latter would not be subject to the same prison sentences, and rather be helped, hospitalized, in order to live better. In recent years, the actor had become the spokesperson for drug addiction, and raised awareness among young people as much as possible about the demons that destroyed him for nearly 40 years. He met many people in situations similar to his own, which allowed him to talk with them, and then get better: “I can’t describe what happens in these meetings. Something spiritual, it fills your heart, you see the lights turn on” he explained, moved.