'Friends' role didn't bring Matthew Perry joy, happiness or peace, says George Clooney

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Georgle Clooney has been a long-time heartthrob. But did you know? He shared a close relationship with Matthew Perry as well. Recently, George Clooney said Matthew Perry had a hard time staying happy even after bagging one of the central characters on the long-running sitcom "Friends".

Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the comedy series, died at the age of 54 on October 30 after being found unresponsive at his Pacific Palisades home here.
An autopsy report released last week said that Perry died from the "acute effects of ketamine". The actor struggled with addiction for many years and detailed it all in his 2022 memoir "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing".

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'Friends' role didn't bring Matthew Perry joy, happiness or peace, says George Clooney

Clooney, 62, said he had known Perry since he was a teenager. "I knew Matt when he was 16 years old. We used to play paddle tennis together. He's about 10 years younger than me. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid," the actor told Deadline in an interview. Perry always wished to be on a sitcom, added Clooney, who had appeared as a guest star with his "ER" colleague Noah Wyle in the 17th episode of "Friends" season one.

"He would say to us, I mean me, Richard Kind and Grant Heslov, 'I just want to get on a sitcom, man. I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I would be the happiest man on earth'. And he got on probably one of the best ever. He wasn't happy. It didn't bring him joy or happiness or peace," the actor said.

Perry and Clooney tasted stardom around the same time in the early 1990s. At the time, Clooney was filming "ER", while Perry was shooting for "Friends" at the same set of Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California. The two shows went on to become the most popular shows in American television history.
Due to his struggle with addiction, Perry found it hard to go on, Clooney said.

"Watching that go on on the lot we were at Warner Brothers, we were there right next to each other, it was hard to watch because we didn't know what was going through him. We just knew that he wasn't happy and I had no idea he was doing what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff. "And it also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn't just automatically bring you happiness. You have to be happy with yourself and your life," he added.

About Matthew Perry's demise

Over a month after the demise of 'Friends' star Matthew Perry the cause behind the same has been revealed. The 54-year-old was found dead in a hot tub at his home on October 28. According to the toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office, he died from the acute effects of ketamine. Contributing factors in Perry's death included drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder), Variety reported.

Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy prior to his death, reportedly for depression and anxiety. The toxicology report stated, "At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression." Ketamine is illegally used as a recreational drug for its numbing and hallucinogenic effects.

"There were trace amounts of ketamine detected in the stomach contents. He was reported to be receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety. Per the Medical Examiner Investigator's report, his last known treatment was 1.5 weeks prior to death, and the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine's half-life is 3 to 4 hours or less," the report added.

(With inputs from PTI)