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​ ‘Heartbroken’: Perry’s family breaks silence ​

Matthew Perry’s family has spoken after the beloved Friends star was found dead at his LA home at the age of 54.

Matthew Perry’s family has released a statement after his shock death, saying they are “heartbroken” by the loss of the beloved star.

Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the US sitcom Friends, died on Saturday aged 54.

It’s understood that he left his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles for a two-hour game of pickleball.

Perry returned home and sent his assistant out on an errand, according to sources that spoke to Page Six. When the assistant returned two hours later, Perry was discovered unresponsive.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Brian Humphrey said first responders attended the home after a 911 call at 4:07pm about a “water emergency” of an unknown type. TMZ reported that Perry was found in his jacuzzi.

The circumstances of the incident are unclear but foul play is not suspected. An official cause of death has yet to be released.
 

Perry was found unresponsive on Saturday. Picture: Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Perry was found unresponsive on Saturday. Picture: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

His father, John Bennett Perry is seen arriving at his home late on Saturday. Picture: MEGA
His father, John Bennett Perry is seen arriving at his home late on Saturday. Picture: MEGA


Members of Perry’s family, including his father, mother and stepdad, began to arrive at the star’s home shortly after his death.

The family issued a statement on Sunday morning.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” a spokesperson for Perry’s family told People. Deaths

Matthew Perry’s family has released a statement after his shock death, saying they are “heartbroken” by the loss of the beloved star.

Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the US sitcom Friends, died on Saturday aged 54.

It’s understood that he left his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles for a two-hour game of pickleball.

Perry returned home and sent his assistant out on an errand, according to sources that spoke to Page Six. When the assistant returned two hours later, Perry was discovered unresponsive.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Brian Humphrey said first responders attended the home after a 911 call at 4:07pm about a “water emergency” of an unknown type. TMZ reported that Perry was found in his jacuzzi.

The circumstances of the incident are unclear but foul play is not suspected. An official cause of death has yet to be released.
 

Perry was found unresponsive on Saturday. Picture: Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Perry was found unresponsive on Saturday. Picture: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

His father, John Bennett Perry is seen arriving at his home late on Saturday. Picture: MEGA
His father, John Bennett Perry is seen arriving at his home late on Saturday. Picture: MEGA


Members of Perry’s family, including his father, mother and stepdad, began to arrive at the star’s home shortly after his death.

The family issued a statement on Sunday morning.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” a spokesperson for Perry’s family told People.

“Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend.”

They added: “You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”

Perry never married and has no children.
 

The actor’s mother, Suzanne, was reportedly also on the scene. Picture: MEGA
The actor’s mother, Suzanne, was reportedly also on the scene. Picture: MEGA


A friend of Perry’s told the Daily Mail that his inner circle was in “a total state of shock” following his tragic death.

“People are crying on the phone and struggling to accept this news,” the source said.

“It’s no secret that he struggled with drugs and alcohol for years but the last time I spoke to him, which was within the last few weeks, he seemed to be in a good place.

“He was upbeat and sounded sober and positive.”

Perry, who was born in Massachusetts to an actor father and a journalist mother, is most famous for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, in which he appeared for its entire decade-long run from 1994 until 2004.

The series also starred Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.

Throughout his career, Perry also appeared in numerous other TV shows including Boys Will Be Boys, Growing Pains, Ally McBeal, The West Wing and Scrubs, as well as in blockbuster films such as The Whole Nine Yards17 Again, Fools Rush In and Three To Tango.
 

Police cars and yellow tape were seen outside his home. Picture: MEGA
Police cars and yellow tape were seen outside his home. Picture: MEGA

James Michael Tyler as Gunther with Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston on Friends. Picture: NBC
James Michael Tyler as Gunther with Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston on Friends. Picture: NBC
 

While the Friends star never married, he was briefly engaged to Molly Hurwitz, but the pair called off the wedding in mid-2021.

Prior to that, he’d been linked to Mean Girls actor Lizzy Caplan.

Perry had generated plenty of headlines this year after sharing the shocking details of his past in his bombshell memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.

In the book, he opened up about his decades-long addiction to drugs and alcohol, revealing that he’d almost died during that time.
 

Perry was best known as Chandler from Friends (right).
Perry was best known as Chandler from Friends (right).

He has died at the age of 54. Picture: Gabriel Bouys/AFP
He has died at the age of 54. Picture: Gabriel Bouys/AFP

Perry (left) with Friends co-stars Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, and David Schwimmer at the 26th People's Choice Awards in 2000. Picture: Lucy Nicholson/AFP
Perry (left) with Friends co-stars Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, and David Schwimmer at the 26th People's Choice Awards in 2000. Picture: Lucy Nicholson/AFP
 

“Not only do I have the disease, but I also have it bad,” Perry wrote in his memoir.

“I have it as bad as you can have it, in fact. It’s back-to-the-wall time all the time. It’s going to kill me.

“Robert Downey Jr., talking about his own addiction, once said, ‘It’s like I have a gun in my mouth with my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of the metal.’ I got it; I understand that.

“Even on good days, when I’m sober and I’m looking forward, it’s still with me all the time. There’s still a gun. Fortunately, I guess, there’s not enough opiates in the world to make me high anymore.”

Perry also recounted how his family was told he had a 2 per cent chance of survival after his colon burst from opioid overuse when he was just 49 years old. The horrifying ordeal saw him spend two weeks in a coma and requiring a colostomy bag for nine months.
 

The beloved sitcom turned its stars into household names. Picture: Warner Bros. / Courtesy: Everett Collection
The beloved sitcom turned its stars into household names. Picture: Warner Bros. / Courtesy: Everett Collection


Last year, the actor told People magazine that his addiction issues had just started to surface when he was cast on Friends at the age of 24, and that at its horrifying peak, he was taking 55 Vicodin a day and weighed only 58 kgs.

“I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble,” he admits. “But there were years that I was sober during that time. Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, ‘That should tell me something.’”

However, he struggled to get on top of it for years.

“I didn’t know how to stop,” he said. “If the police came over to my house and said, ‘If you drink tonight, we’re going to take you to jail,’ I’d start packing. I couldn’t stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.”

However, Perry told the publication that he’d finally beaten his addictions in recent years.

“I’m a pretty healthy guy right now,” he told People.

“What I’m most surprised with is my resilience. The way that I can bounce back from all of this torture and awfulness,” said Perry.

“Wanting to tell the story, even though it’s a little scary to tell all your secrets in a book, I didn’t leave anything out. Everything’s in there.”

In mid-2021, Perry joined the rest of the Friends cast for the highly-anticipated reunion, but his slurred speech left many fans concerned.
 

David Schwimmer with Perry during the <i>Friends</i> reunion. Picture: Terence Patrick
David Schwimmer with Perry during the Friends reunion. Picture: Terence Patrick


Addressing his appearance in an interview with US TV presenter Diane Sawyer last year, the actor revealed he’d had to undergo “emergency dental surgery” shortly before filming, which had “made [his] mouth feel like fire”.

“It sounded like my voice was off,” he acknowledged, but added that he knew he “couldn’t not show up.”

“So what I chose to do was just go and do the best that I could,” Perry told Sawyer, who referenced the “wear and tear on his voice and speech”.

The star also revealed in the interview that he’d been clean of all substances for 18 months, which meant that he was only newly-sober when the reunion had been filmed in early 2021.

During the televised special, Perry spoke candidly about the pressure he had felt to deliver laughs in front of a live audience every week while filming Friends.

After co-star David Schwimmer claimed he “really enjoyed the energy of the live audience”, to which the others agreed, Perry admitted his experience had been vastly different.

“To me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh, and it’s not healthy, for sure,” he told them, describing how he felt like he “would die” if a joke fell flat.

“I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and go into like convulsions, if I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get … I felt like that every single night.”

 

Author: Editors Desk

Source: News Corp Australia Network:

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