Matthew Perry shared a heartfelt desire before his tragic death. He wanted to be remembered for his efforts in helping those who are struggling with drug addiction — which he revealed in a November 2022 interview.
At the age of 14, the young actor was coping with the separation of his parents and craving for their attention. He confessed that by the time he was 18, he was almost “drinking every day.”
But after his sudden and tragic death at the age of 54 in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home (due to apparent drowning), this wish has garnered increased public attention.
Matthew Perry’s Heartfelt Wish Before His Death
Matthew Perry once struggled with a drug addiction that nearly killed him. In a chat on the Q with Tom Power, the actor shared that he didn’t want his portrayal of Chandler Bing in Friends to define his legacy. He said:
“Best thing about me – bar none – is if somebody comes up to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me?’ I can say ‘Yes’ and follow up and do it. That’s the best thing. And I’ve said this for a long time, when I die, I don’t want ‘Friends’ to be the first thing that’s mentioned. I want that to be the first thing that’s mentioned, and I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that.”
Perry admitted that he wanted to be remembered for helping addicts. But he recognized that this wish would fall “far behind” because his fans would always remember him as Chandler Bing. As he added:
“I know it won’t happen, but it would be nice.”
He also revealed several other facts when he was battling his addiction battle.
Matthew Perry’s Revelation About His Drug Addiction
Matthew Perry revealed that he wrote a theatre production about his addiction battles. He added: “I also wrote my play ‘The End of Longing,’ which is a personal message to the world, an exaggerated form of me as a drunk.”
His memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: A Candid, Darkly Funny Book tells his struggles with addictions. It got severe in 2018 when he experienced a gastrointestinal perforation due to his excessive use of opiates.
When he was comatose for two weeks, he had just a two percent chance of living. And the actor was required to rely on a colostomy bag while his colon healed.
The Numb star also asserted that when he was at the peak of his addictions, he was consuming about 55 Vicodin pills a day and weighed just 128 pounds.
