Oct. 28 marks the one year anniversary of actor Matthew Perry’s death.
Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom “Friends,” was discovered at his home in his hot tub. His cause of death was determined to be “acute effects of ketamine” and subsequent drowning.
He was 54 years old.
In addition to his family speaking out for the first time in an interview with Savannah Guthrie, his cast mates on “Friends” are also remembering their beloved friend.
Actress Jennifer Aniston who played Rachel Greene took to Instagram to share several photos of herself and Perry together throughout the years.
“1 year,” she wrote alongside a patched up heart and a white dove emoji, while also tagging the Matthew Perry Foundation’s Instagram page.
Following the news of his passing, the main cast shared a joint declaration before sharing their own individual statements on Instagram.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss. In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
In an interview with Guthrie, Perry’s mom, Suzanne Morrison, shared details of some of their last moments together.
“He went through a period, interestingly enough, just before he died when he was showing me one of his new houses,” Suzanne Morrison told Guthrie.
“He came up to me and he said, ‘I love you so much, and I’m so happy to be with you now. And I’m so…’ It was almost as though it was a premonition or something.”
“I didn’t think about it at the time,” she said, “but I thought, ‘How long has it been since we’ve had a conversation like that?’ It’s been years.”
Suzanne Morrison believes “there was an inevitability to what was going to happen next to him, and he felt it very strongly.”
Some of the last words Perry ever said to his mom was “I’m not frightened anymore,” she recalled. “And it worried me,” Suzanne Morrison confessed.
Perry’s stepfather, journalist Keith Morrison, said what Perry “taught the world is that no amount of money will cure an addict.”
In his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir,” Perry revealed that he spent upwards of $7 million dollars on his recovery.
Keith Morrison admitted that they “didn’t know how much of it he was taking” referring to the ketamine.
According to Deadline, the actor began taking ketamine under the supervision of doctors treating him for depression and anxiety.
Following an investigation, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the five individuals arrested “were part of a ‘broad underground criminal network’ that supplied ketamine to Perry and others. He said the suspects ‘took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves.’”
Perry’s sisters remember Perry always cracking jokes and making people laugh when they were younger. “It was always a jubilant thing when he would come over,” his sister Caitlin Morrison, who help create the Mathew Perry Foundation and it’s in-patient facility, shared.
“All he wanted was to love and to be loved,” Emily Morrison, another sister, added.
“Even when he was struggling in dark times, we were always proud of him,” Caitlin Morrison added. “We were always proud of the fact that he kept fighting and that he made it a big focus of his life to help other people.”
Suzanne Morrison, thinking of all her children, called herself a “very lucky woman.” However, she said, “there was one glitch, there was one problem, that I couldn’t conquer: I couldn’t help him.”