Matthew Perry fans are heartbroken after watching a new ITV documentary which reveals how the Friends star spent his final days.
Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, which aired on August 18th, features interviews with lawyers and experts who recounted Perry’s tragic final days. The show was released just one day before what would have been his 56th birthday.
Many fans were in tears after watching, with one fan posting: “Crying at the Matthew Perry documentary. Friends is my absolute go to and I still think it’s devasting the world is Chandler-less.”
Another commented on how LA is full of ‘sycophant vacuous people’, saying: “Watching Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, on ITVX… Desperately sad that beautiful man was taken advantage of by the scumbags who leeched from him. Too much money.”
And a third viewer said: “The world is missing a beautiful, funny and caring man. I can’t believe he passed away almost 2 years ago.”
The documentary included several insightful interviews into what was to become his final days, as well his own reflection on his battles with drug and alcohol addiction.
Journalists, celebrity friends and law enforcement were featured along with excerpts taken from Matthew’s 2022 autobiographical memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing.
In his book, he admitted that he struggled to watch Friends 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.
“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.” Perry explained: “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."
Notably none of the cast of Friends appeared in the documentary.
Director Robert Palumbo said: “Understandably, they were reluctant to go on a documentary about Matthew at this point. Maybe many years down the line... We understand their decision not to appear.”
Sasha Breslau, ITV Head of Content Acquisitions, said: “We’re pleased to bring this in-depth and fascinating film to ITVX, documenting the life of one of television's best loved actors, Matthew Perry. The film hears first hand from those who knew Matthew, as well as telling the story of his untimely passing with updated developments not seen before.”
