‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry dead at 54 in apparent drowning
“Friends” star Matthew Perry has died, Page Six can confirm. He was 54.
The actor was found dead at his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Saturday in an apparent drowning.
Sources told TMZ, which was first to report the news, that first responders rushed to the house after receiving a call about a cardiac arrest.
Earlier in the morning, Perry reportedly had come back to his home after playing a two-hour pickleball game when he asked his assistant to run him an errand.
Two hours later, the assistant found him unresponsive in his jacuzzi and called 911.
Foul play is not believed to have been a factor in his death. Drugs were not found at the scene.
In a statement to Page Six, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that it “responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd for a death investigation on a male [at] 4:10 p.m. this afternoon.”
LA Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey, meanwhile, told us that first responders got the 911 call at 4:07 p.m. for a “water rescue or water emergency.”
He couldn’t confirm if the body was found in a tub, pool or hot tub, but said firefighters did not render aid.
Authorities later confirmed Perry’s identity to KCAL News.
Earlier this week, Perry shared an eerie post on Instagram that showed him relaxing in an infinity pool with headphones on.
“Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I’m Mattman,” he captioned the post.
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Perry rose to fame playing Chandler Bing on the popular ’90s sitcom “Friends” from 1994 to 2004.
Three years after the show’s debut, Perry got into a jet ski accident that ultimately started his addiction issues, as he started to become dependent on painkillers.
Last year, the “Fools Rush In” actor released his shocking tell-all memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” in which he described his decades-long addiction to alcohol and drugs.
“Not only do I have the disease, but I also have it bad,” he wrote in the book, which was released in November 2022. “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 …
Read more about Matthew Perry’s life and struggles:
- 55 Vicodin & a quart of vodka: The most shocking tales from Matthew Perry’s tell-all memoir
- Matthew Perry: How to tell which drugs I used during ‘Friends’
- Matthew Perry reveals why he broke up with Julia Roberts in the ’90s
- Matthew Perry claims Cameron Diaz once punched him in the face on secret date
- Matthew Perry, Valerie Bertinelli made out while Eddie Van Halen was passed out
“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 — who estimated that he spent $9 million trying to get sober — wrote that he nearly died a few years ago while he was consuming 55 Vicodin tablets and a quart of vodka per day.
In more recent years, fans grew concerned about the actor, as his behavior showed that he wasn’t the same ’90s heartthrob people grew to love.
In 2019, photos emerged of Perry wandering around Los Angeles, and in 2021, he had an odd gaze and a labored speech pattern during an on-camera interview tied to the “Friends” reunion.
Perry later explained that he had undergone dental surgery just days before the taping.
