Friends star Matthew Perry, 54, found dead after 'drowning in his hot tub'
Friends star Matthew Perry has died aged 54 after he was found unconscious in his Los Angeles home.
Emergency responders came to his home after receiving a call at 4:07 p.m that the star had suffered a cardiac arrest. However, once they arrived, they reportedly found the star dead in his hot tub.
TMZ claims that the actor had returned home following a round of pickleball (a mash-up of tennis, badminton and ping-pong) and sent his assistant out on an errand shortly thereafter, but was found unresponsive when the aide returned home just two hours later, prompting him to call for help.
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The star previously struggled with drug addiction (GETTY)Law enforcement sources have claimed that the much-loved star had drowned, having treated the situation as a 'water rescue,' according to NBC.
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Apparently, there were no drugs at the scene nor did it seem that there was any foul play that occurred. The Los Angeles Times reported that authorities responded to his home around 4pm where he was discovered unresponsive.
Perry's neighbour has since spoken out on the 'disturbing and sad' scenes that unfolded on Saturday night.
'[First responders] were outside my neighbour’s door. I didn’t think much of it at the time until police started arriving and everything. They didn’t hammer the door, they kept silent. It was very disturbing, and very sad after all those years.. from what he’s gone through and his addictions and whatever.I saw everything, I feel bad for my younger siblings. I was very sad. At the same time I did kind of expect it in some sense, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon. He’d not lived there long," they told The Sun.
The neighbour described Perry as a 'friendly and very nice, genuine guy."
First tributes left outside the Friends apartment after the death of Matthew Perry who played Chandler Bing (Zoe Forsey)The Friends' official Twitter account confirmed news of Perry's death on Saturday night, posting: "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." A source added that there was no sign of foul play and that robbery-homicide detectives are investigating his death.
Matthew's Friends co-star Maggie Wheeler, best known for playing his on-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein, was the first of the cast to pay tribute to him. "What a loss. The world will miss you Mathew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on," she wrote. "I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who went to school with Perry, also spoke out on the actor's death. He wrote: "“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.”
Matthew Perry's mum Suzanne and stepdad Keith Morrison arrive at the scene. They were later joined by the actor's dad John Bennett Perry (Backgrid)Hours after Matthew's death, his mother, father and step-father were pictured arriving at the scene. The trio looked sombre as they made their way into the star's home. Aerial photos showed a white tent had been set up in the star's back-garden as investigations got underway.
In a chilling last post on his Instagram, shared earlier this week, the Perry shared images of him in his hot tub, saying: 'Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I'm Mattman.'
Hours after the tragic news broke on Saturday night, Perry's mum, father and step-father were seen arriving at their son's home where a white tent had been erected next to the hot tub.
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Matthew Perry stepped out with a friend for dinner in Los Angeles six days before his death, in what was his last public sighting (GoffPhotos.com)Perry was last seen in public just six days before his death as he met a friend for dinner. The actor looked relaxed as he was pictured wearing a t-shirt, joggers and trainers with the laces undone.
He had opted to keep a low profile in recent years, with the exception of his tell-all memoir released last year and the Friends reunion in 2021 that saw him get together with his cast-mates to recall memories of their time on the his show.
After small roles in Growing Pains, Beverly Hills 90210 and Dream On, his 10 seasons on "Friends" made him one of Hollywood's most recognisable actors, starring opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer as a friend group in New York.
The actor, who played Chandler Bing, previously revealed he spent weeks in a coma as the result of drug abuse. When he was 49, he said, he experienced an opioid overdose which caused his colon to burst. His family had been told there was only a 2% chance of his survival. Afterward, Matthew went on a road to recovery.
Matthew Perry’s Friends co-star Maggie Wheeler breaks silence on tragic death and says she feels ‘blessed’ to have known himFor nine months after the incident, he used a colostomy bag and underwent 14 surgeries on his stomach. Plus, he went through quite a few trips to rehab in an effort to overcome his addiction. He told People : "The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live. I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that's called a Hail Mary. No one survives that."
Speaking about his recovery, a longtime friend of Perry’s - who was in recovery with him - told DailyMail.com : "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.
Matthew Perry died after reportedly drowning in his hot tub (Getty Images)"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."
Despite playing one of the leading roles, Matthew also previously admitted he doesn't remember certain parts of his time on Friends.
In his memoir, he admitted that he struggled to watch the show because it reminded him of the tough times he went through.
“I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine,” he later added.
Matthew has also talked about his struggles with fame (ABC News)“I could tell season by season by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see.”
As well as being able to work out what drugs he was taking during each season, he also commented on how his appearance on the series makes it hard for him to watch.
“I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30 million people — and that’s why I can’t watch the show, ‘cause I was brutally thin',” he said.
“I had a rule that I would never drink or do drugs while working,” Matthew said.
“Because I had too much respect for the five people I was working with. So I was never wasted while working.”
Although he added: “The thing that always makes me cry... is that it’s not fair. It’s not fair that I had to go through this disease while the other five didn’t.“
But he did say how he would often turn up to work "extremely hungover", where he said he was shaking so much that he had to try and hide his shaky hands from the camera.
The actor was spotted in public in August (Jeff RAyner/Coleman-Rayner)
Matthew Perry spoke candidly about his addiction - in a bid to help others who struggled (Jeff RAyner/Coleman-Rayner)The show came to an end in 2004 after 10 years, which saw the group of pals say their goodbyes to the audience as well as each other.
In his memoir, Matthew said how while everyone was "sobbing" over the final, he was "numb" and felt "nothing".
He said he couldn't work out if the numbness was because of the heavy cocktail of drugs he was taking, or because he was "generally dead inside".
Matthew did say that he hopes to one day be healed enough to watch the show back someday soon.
In a chat with CBC he said: “I think I’m gonna start to watch it, because it really has been an incredible thing to watch it touch the hearts of different generations.”
Ben Winston, the director of Friends, previously said: "'I loved working with him. He's a brilliantly funny man and I thought he had some great one-liners in the show. I felt just happy and lucky to be in his presence and directing him on something like this."
He will be remembered for his iconic role in Friends (NBCUniversal via Getty Images)Although most known for his time on Friends, Matthew found success in a variety of other acting roles. He was a part of the television series Beverly Hills, 90210, Scrubs, The Odd Couple, Growing Pains, and more. As for movies, he was in films like The Kid, 17 Again, Fools Rush In, and more.
However, in recent years, Matthew was laying low. After releasing his memoir, he would rarely make an appearance elsewhere. In September, he was spotted in what seemed to be better health and told Whoopi on The View around the same time that he was "doing really well." He said: "Things are going great in my life. I wrote a book so that’s why I’m wearing glasses because I’m an author."
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