George Clooney Claims Matthew Perry Wasn't Happy Despite 'Friends' Success
George Clooney shared his thoughts about the late actor Matthew Perry.
Perry was found dead in his home in Los Angeles on Oct. 28. He was 54. Clooney recounted his exchange with the "Friends" alum, including how Perry achieved his goal to have a sitcom. Clooney used to star in CBS's short-lived sitcom "E/R." He recounted meeting Perry when the latter was 16 and how they bonded despite their 10-year age gap.
"I knew Matt when he was 16 years old," Clooney told Deadline. "We used to play paddle tennis together. He's about 10 years younger than me. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid."
According to Clooney, when Perry "was a kid," he used to share his dreams of landing a sitcom. For Perry, a regular sitcom would make him "the happiest man on earth."
It came true when he got cast among the six lead actors in NBC's hit sitcom "Friends" alongside Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc. However, despite fulfilling that dream, Clooney wasn't convinced Perry was happy with his accomplishment.
"And watching that go on on the lot -- we were at Warner Brothers, we were there right next to each other -- it was hard to watch because we didn't know what was going through him," Clooney said as he reflected on Perry's substance abuse struggle.
They often see each other in the studio because "E/R" aired from 1994 to 2009, while "Friends" aired from 1994 to 2004. Clooney even made a guest appearance on "Friends" in 1995.
"We just knew that he wasn't happy, and I had no idea he was doing, what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff. And it also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn't just automatically bring you happiness," he added. "You have to be happy with yourself and your life."
An autopsy report of Perry's death from the Los Angeles County Coroner obtained by People revealed that he died of acute effects of ketamine. Perry's ex-girlfriend, Kayti Edwards, suspected that he suffered a relapse in the week before his death because he used his alter ego "Mattman" in one post, which was allegedly an indicator he could have been high. Perry also shared a snap of him in a pool, with Edwards noting that he had a "thing with water when he was doing drugs."
