Friends star Matthew Perry has died aged 54 after accidentally drowning in his jacuzzi at home.
The actor, who shot to fame as the sarcastic Chandler Bing in the seminal 90s sitcom, was found dead at his house in Los Angeles on Saturday after emergency crews were called at around 4pm local time.
He had reportedly played a two-hour game of Pickleball – a sport similar to tennis but played on a smaller court – earlier in the day, before sending his assistant out on an errand. When they returned, Perry was said to be found unresponsive in his hot tub.
Friends, which followed the lives of six friends in their 20s living in New York, was a smash hit across the globe when it aired between 1994 and 2004, and re-runs still remain hugely popular years later.
Perry won a worldwide fanbase for his role as Chandler, earning him an Emmy nomination in 2002 – but behind the glitz and glamour, he secretly battled substance abuse for decades.
There was no indication of foul play and no drugs were found at the scene of his death, sources said this morning.
Tributes have flooded in for Friends star Matthew Perry after he was found dead yesterday
Matthew Perry has died aged 54 (pictured earlier this week, the last time he was seen in public)
Aerial images show Perry’s pool and hot tub where he was reportedly found dead yesterday
Perry rose to fame for his role as ‘Chandler Bing’ on the hit 90s sitcom Friends, which ran for 10 seasons
Matthew Perry ‘s father, John Bennett Perry, 82, was seen arriving at his son’s LA home looking stricken just hours after the Friends star’s death
The 82-year-old was later joined by Perry’s mother, Suzanne (left), and stepdad Keith Morrison (right) who appeared morose as they pulled up to the home
In his last post to his Instagram, shared earlier this week, the star shared images of him in his pool, saying: ‘Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I’m Mattman.’
Perry, who never married but dated a number of stars including Julia Roberts, has been candid and public about his problems with drugs and alcohol, having first gone to rehab in 1997 for a pain medication addiction after a jet skiing accident.
Following this initial stint, he then went to rehab again in 2001 and 2011. He told an interviewer in 2016 that he doesn’t remember filming three seasons of Friends.
Despite hiding his demons from public view for years, Perry detailed his struggles in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing.
In the opening, he wrote: ‘Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.’
He added: ‘People would be surprised to know that I have mostly been sober since 2001. Save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps over the years.’
A longtime friend of Perry’s – who was in recovery with him – told .com last night: ‘Everyone is in a total state of shock. People are crying on the phone and struggling to accept this news.
‘It’s no secret that he struggled with drugs and alcohol for years but the last time I spoke to him, which was within the last few weeks, he seemed to be in a good place.
‘He was upbeat and sounded sober and positive.
‘He’d been to rehab 17 times and nearly died from opioid abuse but he was someone who was sincere about taking his life, and his sobriety, one day at a time.
‘It’s such tragic news. Everyone is praying he didn’t relapse. Matt was a genuinely lovely guy. He was always the first to welcome newcomers to the group and would always volunteer to help and be of service.
‘We are all struggling to come to terms with this terrible news.’
Friends co-stars Maggie Wheeler and Morgan Fairchild remembered Perry for the joy he ‘brought to so many’ following his ‘shock’ death.
In his last post to his Instagram, posted earlier this week, the star shared images of him in his pool
A source told the outlet there was no sign of foul play, and that robbery-homicide detectives are investigating his death after he was allegedly found in his hot tub (pictured)
Pictures in the wake of Perry’s death emerged showing the pool and hot tub at the Friends star’s home (pictured)
A coroner’s vehicle was also seen at the scene as family, friends and fans grappled with the loss of the beloved actor
Maggie Wheeler, who played Perry’s on-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein during the early series of the TV show and often appeared to perform her catchphrase ‘Oh! My! God!’, paid tribute to Perry on Instagram
Chandler Bing’s ‘bromance’ with roommate Joey Tribbiani was hugely popular among fans
Perry’s Chandler Bing remains one of the most popular sitcom characters ever created
Perry as Chandler in a famous episode where he married Monica, with Rachel and Phoebe as bridesmaids
Friends was a huge global hit as it ran for 10 seasons between 1994 and 2004
Perry’s character Chandler delivered the final line of the entire series when he jokingly asked ‘where?’ they should go for a cup of coffee
Wheeler, who played Perry’s on-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein during the early series of the TV show and often appeared to perform her catchphrase ‘Oh! My! God!’, paid tribute to Perry on Instagram.
‘What a loss,’ Wheeler captioned a picture of the pair.
‘The world will miss you Matthew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on.
‘I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.’
Meanwhile Fairchild, who played Perry’s on-screen mother and erotic novel writer Nora Bing, said on Twitter: ‘I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son’, Matthew Perry.’
The 73-year-old US actress added: ‘The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock.
‘I’m sending love and condolences to his friends and family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest.’
The Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison said: ‘Matthew Perry was a huge inspiration to me growing up.
‘My friends & I would come into school having memorised his sarcastic one-liners, speech patterns, even Chandler’s dance.
‘He brought me so much joy & without knowing it he encouraged me to pursue acting. Thank you.’
Warner Bros, which produced Friends, said in a statement: ‘We are devastated to learn of Matthew Perry’s passing. He was a true gift to us all. Our heart goes out to his family, loved ones, and all of his fans.’
American broadcaster NBC, which aired the series for nearly a decade, added: ‘We are incredibly saddened by the too soon passing of Matthew Perry.
‘He brought so much joy to hundreds of millions of people around the world with his pitch perfect comedic timing and wry wit. His legacy will live on through countless generations,’ it said.
Perry was a natural fit for the role of Chandler, beloved for his sarcastic one-liners, and many of his mannerisms grew from the actor’s own behaviour.
He said in his memoir: ‘It was as if someone had followed me around for a year, stealing my jokes, copying my mannerisms, photocopying my world-weary yet witty view of life. One character in particular stood out to me: it wasn’t that I thought I could ‘play’ Chandler. I ‘was’ Chandler.’
However, it was when he was first cast in Friends aged 24 that his alcohol addiction began to surface. By the end of the 10th series of the hit show, he became ‘entrenched in a lot of trouble’, Perry revealed years later.
He said in a 2016 interview that he did not remember filming three seasons of the show because he was a ‘little out of it at the time’.
At one point during his time on Friends, Perry said he was taking 55 Vicodin painkillers a day and was down to 128lb – just over 9st – in weight.
Friends star Mathew Perry has died aged 54 ‘after drowning in his jacuzzi at home,’ sources said
Last year, he published a memoir titled ‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir’
Actor Matthew Perry and actress Julia Roberts hug each other on the set of ‘Friends’
Perry’s character Chandler has an awkward encounter with Phoebe in a memorable scene from Friends
Perry as Chandler in another memorable episode of Friends. Tributes have flooded in for the star
Chandler once spent Thanksgiving in a wooden box to prove his friendship to Joey Tribbiani
Chandler with the white dog, which became a popular item of furniture referenced in several episodes of the show
Perry became a household name for his role as Chandler, in which he displayed perfect comic timing
Perry poses with his fellow Friends co-stars at the Emmy awards evening in LA in 2002
Perry, dressed in a bunny costume, arm wrestles Courteney Cox in a famous Friends episode
Perry, pictured in 2006, was one of the most famous stars on the planet but battled with substance abuse
Massachusetts-born Perry grew up in Canada where he attended school with Justin Trudeau – who is now the country’s prime minister.
He also paid tribute, writing: ‘Matthew Perry’s passing is shocking and saddening. I’ll never forget the schoolyard games we used to play, and I know people around the world are never going to forget the joy he brought them.
‘Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew. You were loved – and you will be missed.’
After moving to LA, Perry starred as Chazz Russell in Boys Will Be Boys and also had roles in shows including sitcom Growing Pains before becoming a global superstar as Chandler.
‘This was the only guy to play him,’ creator of Friends Marta Kauffman said in the 2021 reunion special.
The star laid bare the height of his terrible drug and alcohol addiction battle which nearly cost him his life in a memoir titled ‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir’.
Perry also revealed that his colon ruptured as a result of his opioid addiction when he was 49.
Doctors gave him only a two percent chance of survival and he was in a coma for two weeks followed by months more in the hospital.
Perry required 14 surgeries to help repair all of the abdominal damage, and he admitted to having gone to rehab 15 times over the years in hopes of kicking his drug addiction.
At one point during his Friends career, he admits he was taking 55 Vicodin a day and was down to 128 pounds but yet he ‘didn’t know how to stop.’
He told an interviewer in 2016 that he doesn’t remember filming three seasons of Friends.
‘I had this odd rule that I would never drink on a set,’ Perry said. ‘But I went to work in extreme cases of hangover. It’s so horrible to feel that way and have to work and be funny on top of that.’
Perry’s dream of widespread recognition came true with the NBC sitcom Friends, which followed the lives of six people trying to make their way in their twenties in New York City
Pictured: (l-r) Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt Le Blanc as Joey Tribbiani
Chandler’s relationship with Monica Geller was kept secret from the group for several memorable episodes
In one episode, Perry’s character was locked in a bank vestibule with model Jill Goodacre
Perry alongside Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox in an episode of Friends
Tributes have flooded in from across the entertainment industry for Perry (pictured posing for a portrait in 2015)
He even revealed he would go to real estate open houses – not because he was interested in buying property but to see if he could steal drugs from medicine cabinets.
Chandler Bing – the group’s most sarcastic and quick-witted, but occasionally awkward and insecure, member – quickly became a fan favorite.
Perry and his co-stars – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer – negotiated $1 million each, per episode, by the end of their colossally popular and zeitgeist-setting 236-episode run.
In a sign of the show’s enduring appeal, the gang reportedly pocketed $2.5 million each for a reunion episode in 2021.
During that episode, Perry’s slurred speech prompted concern among fans.
Perry also surprised his co-stars by admitting to having suffered severe anxiety ‘every night’ during the filming of the sitcom.
Born on August 19, 1969 in Massachusetts, Perry grew up in Ottawa and was raised by his mother, Suzanne Morrison, a Canadian writer and former press aide for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Morrison and Perry’s father were married from 1968 to 1970 and she later married Canadian broadcast journalist Keith Morrison, who has been on Dateline for decades, in 1981.
In Canada, Perry was a top-rated tennis player but at 15 moved to Los Angeles to be closer to his father, John Bennett Perry, an actor known for several shows, including Falcon Crest, and later on Old Spice commercials.
In the 1980s and ’90s, Perry landed spots on the decades’ most popular TV shows like Charles in Charge, Who’s The Boss?, Growing Pains and Beverly Hills, 90210.
He also had a role in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, a movie released in 1988 that starred River Phoenix.
The film was ‘one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had, because I was 16 years old and in Chicago all by myself, no parents around,’ Perry told BuzzFeed. ‘I knew that I wanted to act.’
He told The New York Times in 2002 that he sought fame. ‘There was steam coming out of my ears, I wanted to be famous so badly.
Perry is seen here in 1987 as he promoted his first network series ‘Second Chance’, which was shown on Fox
After moving to Los Angeles, Perry landed spots on TV’s most popular shows during the 1980s and 1990s, he is seen here in an episode of Who’s the Boss?, which ran from 1984 to 1992
Perry, left as Fred Roberts in the film A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, which was released in 1988 and starred River Phoenix, right
‘You want the attention, you want the bucks, and you want the best seat in the restaurant. I didn’t think what the repercussions would be.’
Perry’s dream of widespread recognition came true with the NBC sitcom Friends, which followed the lives of six people trying to make their way in their twenties in New York City.
Audiences adored the show during its ten-season run and continue to do so today despite the show ending over 15 years ago.
One of his major storylines in Friends was his initially secret romance between his character and Monica Geller, which evolved into marriage and the couple adopting twins.
Perry also starred in several films including 17 Again starring Zac Efron, Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek, and Getting In with comedian Dave Chapelle.
He featured in The Whole Nine Yards, and The Kid with Bruce Willis – who was a guest star in the sixth series of Friends.
Meanwhile his TV work included short-lived Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip and two Emmy nominations for his role as Joe Quincy in The West Wing – both from creator Aaron Sorkin.
In 2007, Perry also received an Emmy nomination for his role as Ron Clark in The Ron Clark Story about a restless but gifted young teacher.
Perry never married and ended his engagement to Molly Hurwitz, a talent manager, in 2021.
He dated several well-known actresses including Julia Roberts and Lizzy Caplan.