Growing up, my mom and I watched Friends any chance we had. We watched the 10 seasons on repeat for years. I must have seen every episode at least five times before I graduated high school. My mom still laughs at every corny joke like she’s hearing it for the first time. Growing up my mom and I were always close, but like a lot of teenagers, I went through a phase where we fought a lot, disagreed on pretty much everything, and I never felt like I could talk to her. Even though we didn’t always get along, we could always sit down, watch Friends, and laugh together. I fell in love with Friends because of the bond it created with my mom, but we fell in love with the six stars of the show; especially Chandler Bing. He was sweet, kind, so much fun, loved his friends, and so incredibly hilarious; everything I aspire to be. Along with my family, millions of people adored Chandler Bing. But there is a person behind the character of Chandler Bing.
Following his death, millions of people remember Matthew Perry for his role on Friends. All over social media are posts that highlight Chandler Bing’s smile, laugh, crazy dancing, and sense of humor, but that is not Chandler Bing smiling, laughing, making jokes, and dancing. It is Matthew Perry. During his time on the sets of Friends, Matthew Perry created an everlasting bond with each of his co-stars. When reflecting on her friendship with Matthew Perry, his friend Lisa Kudrow, Phoebe Buffay on Friends, said “I just focused on Matthew, who could make me laugh so hard every day, and once a week, laugh so hard I cried and couldn’t breathe. He was there, Matthew Perry, who is whip-smart… charming, sweet, sensitive, very reasonable and rational. That guy, with everything he was battling, was still there. The same Matthew who, from the beginning, could lift us all up during a grueling night shoot for the opening titles inside that fountain.” Although Chandler Bing and Matthew Perry have plenty of similarities, it is important to recognize his role on Friends is not everything Matthew Perry was.
Matthew Perry was born on August 19, 1969 in Williamstown Massachusetts. His parents split up before he could even remember with his father moving to Los Angeles. He lived with his mother in Ottawa Canada until he was 15 years old when he moved to California to live with his father. He graduated from a private school in Los Angeles where he fell in love with acting and tennis.
Before starring as Chandler Bing on Friends, Matthew Perry had numerous small roles and a few bigger roles on shows that never aired. His first movie part was while he was still a high school student. He worked a supporting role in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1988, but the film went unnoticed. In 1987, Perry starred in his first sitcom, Second Chance. He played the younger version of a man who died and got the chance to be the younger version of himself. The sitcom unfortunately failed to attract an audience and was unable to stay on the air. He then had a few small parts and guest appearances on programs like Empty Nest, Growing Pains, and Sydney in the early 90s. Matthew Perry’s acting career didn’t reach its peak until he was casted a leading role in a new sitcom about a group of men and women living in New York City in the 90s. He had found his perfect role, and Friends quickly became one of the most famous shows of all time.
With the fame that came with starring in Friends, Matthew Perry found himself battling addiction to alcohol and prescription medications. He told multiple interviewers how much he just wanted to be famous. He loved the attention, the money, the women, and loved having the best seat at any restaurant. As his fame grew, so did his addiction. In his book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, he revealed that he spent over $7 million attempting to get sober and visited rehab at least 15 times. Some of these visits spanned during his time as Chandler Bing. You can even tell from season to season when he was battling the worst of his addiction. In his book, he also revealed that he doesn’t remember the majority of his time spent on the sets of Friends as a result of his addiction.
Matthew Perry’s life sounds like a sob story that he could never overcome, but that is not his whole story. His addiction consumed the majority of his life and caused health problems that could have led to his death, but Matthew Perry was so much more than the puppet his addiction made him. Even with the struggle against his own addiction, Matthew Perry did so much to support other addicts. He was a big advocate for drug court reform and even turned his old home in California into a men’s sober-living facility called Perry House. Eventually, he wrote a book talking about his addiction, depression, and all the hardships that came with fame. His book was a hand extended to anyone like him who struggles with addiction. In an interview on the “Q With Tom Power” podcast in 2022, Perry said, “When I die, I don’t want ‘Friends’ to be the first thing that’s mentioned. I want helping people to be the first thing that’s mentioned, and I’m gonna live the rest of my life proving that”.
Since his passing, it seems Matthew Perry is remembered in two different ways: Chandler Bing and the addict. These two versions of himself have consumed the majority of his life, but they are not everything he was. Matthew Perry was kind to everyone, had an infectious laugh, a great sense of humor, was great at what he did, and helped so many people like him. He was so much more than his addiction and his role as Chandler Bing, and everyone should know it.