Could We Be Any More Heartbroken? Remembering Matthew Perry (and Chandler Bing) Forever
There are TV characters you enjoy, and then there are TV characters you feel like you actually know. Chandler Bing was the second kind.
Matthew Perry created something so specific, so funny, and so vulnerable in that role that millions of people felt like they lost a friend when he died.
He passed away on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54, and he deserved so much more time.
A Childhood Split Between Two Countries
Matthew Langford Perry was born on August 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His parents divorced when he was an infant.
He was raised by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada — which is how he ended up going to school with a kid named Justin Trudeau, who would later become Canada’s Prime Minister.
His father, John Bennett Perry, was an actor best known for Old Spice commercials.
Matthew inherited the performance gene. As a teenager, he was actually a top-ranked junior tennis player in Canada; good enough to compete seriously.
He walked away from the sport at 15 to move to Los Angeles and pursue acting.
The Role He Almost Didn’t Get
Perry spent years grinding through small TV parts — bit roles on Growing Pains, Boys Will Be Boys, and Beverly Hills 90210.
Then came the audition that would change everything.
The producers of a new NBC pilot called Six of One — later renamed Friends — were struggling to cast the role of Chandler Bing.
Perry was unavailable. He was already under contract for another pilot about a futuristic airport.
Jon Cryer, Jon Favreau, and Craig Bierko were among those considered for the role.
But luckily, Perry’s pilot wasn’t picked up. The meant he was free, and he walked in and made the part his own immediately.
“Then Matthew came in and you went, ‘Oh, well, there you go. Done. Done. That’s the guy,'” co-creator David Crane later said about Perry’s audition.
Could I BE Any More Famous?
Friends debuted in September 1994 and became one of the most successful television shows in history.
Perry played Chandler Bing; a statistical analyst who hid his insecurities behind sarcasm and perfectly timed one-liners.
At just 24, he was the youngest member of the main cast.
By the final seasons, he and his five co-stars were each earning $1 million per episode. The show ran for 10 seasons and ended in 2004.
Perry received an Emmy nomination in 2002 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
His Chandler Bing catchphrases — including the distinctive “Could I BE any more…?” delivery — became part of the cultural language of an entire generation.
The Secret He Carried Through All of It
What most people watching Friends didn’t know was that Perry was fighting a very different battle off-camera.
He had become an alcoholic by age 14. A jet ski accident in 1997 led to a Vicodin prescription — and an addiction that spiraled out of control.
At his worst, he was taking 55 Vicodin pills per day and his weight dropped to 128 pounds.
“I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.
In 2019, his colon burst from opioid overuse. He had a 2% chance of survival.
He spent two weeks in a coma, five months in the hospital, and underwent at least 14 surgeries. He survived.
The Man Who Wanted to Be Remembered for More Than Acting
After Friends, Perry appeared in The West Wing, Scrubs, and later The Odd Couple revival — but his real passion in his later years was helping other people get sober.
In 2013, he opened Perry House, a men’s sober-living facility in his former Malibu home.
He met with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to advocate for drug courts.
He spent $9 million of his own money on addiction treatment over the years.
“I hope when I die, people don’t say, ‘That’s the guy from Friends,'” he once said. “I hope they say, ‘He helped a lot of people.'”
Days after his death, the Matthew Perry Foundation was launched to continue that work.
The Last Day of Matthew Perry’s Life
On October 28, 2023, Perry played pickleball in the morning.
His assistant returned from errands later that afternoon to find him unresponsive in his jacuzzi at his Pacific Palisades home.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 54 years old.
The autopsy later confirmed that the cause of death was the acute effects of ketamine — a drug Perry had been using as part of treatment for depression and anxiety.
Five people were charged with helping supply him with the drug. All five pleaded guilty.
Fondly Remembering Matthew Perry
Jennifer Aniston had been texting with him that very morning. “He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling,” she said in an interview.
The Friends cast — Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer — released a joint statement.
“He was always the funniest person in the room,” they wrote. “More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — his old schoolyard friend — said simply: “I’ll never forget the schoolyard games we used to play.”
Matthew Perry wanted to be remembered for helping people.
He is also remembered for making tens of millions of people laugh for ten years straight — and for creating one of the most beloved characters in television history.
Both things are true. Both things matter.
Other Famous Stars Who are Gone But Not Forgotten
Check out our other articles about the most beloved icons of TV and film who left an permanent mark on our hearts. We remember them fondly by reminiscing.
- Tina Turner — The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll
- Chuck Norris — Walker, Texas Ranger (and much more)
- Anthony Bourdain — Host of Parts Unknown and No Reservations
- Farrah Fawcett — Jill Munroe on Charlie’s Angels
- Diane Keaton — Annie Hall (and much more)
- Robert Redford — Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (and much more)
- Suzanne Somers — Chrissy Snow on Three’s Company
- Paul Reubens — Pee-wee Herman
- Raquel Welch — Loana in One Million Years B.C.
- Matthew Perry — Chandler Bing on Friends
- Hulk Hogan — Professional wrestler