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George Clooney Reveals Matthew Perry ‘Wasn’t Happy’ With ‘Friends’ Role: ‘Didn’t Bring Him Joy’
George Clooney recalled fond memories about his friendship with Matthew Perry while revealing that the late actor wasn’t thrilled with his role on Friends.
“I knew Matt when he was 16 years old,” George, 62, told Deadline in an interview published Tuesday, December. 19. “We used to play paddle tennis together … And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid.”
George recalled Matthew telling him and their friends Richard Kind and Grant Heslov that he wanted “to get on a sitcom,” adding that he “would be the happiest man on earth” if he booked a successful show.
Despite dreaming of being a main character on a beloved series, George said Matthew wasn’t fulfilled when he landed the role of Chandler Bing on Friends.
“He got on probably one of the best ever,” the Ticket to Paradise actor said about the NBC sitcom, which aired from 1994 until 2004. “He wasn’t happy. It didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace. 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. We just knew that he wasn’t happy.”
George also admitted that he wasn’t aware of how intense Matthew’s struggles were amid his addiction, which he elaborated on in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.
“I had no idea he was doing what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff,” George told the outlet. “It also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn’t just automatically bring you happiness. You have to be happy with yourself and your life.”
Matthew was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home on October 28 at the age of 54. It was initially reported that Matthew died due to an apparent drowning, according to dispatch audio obtained by TMZ October 29.
He was pronounced dead on the scene, while Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division detectives began a preliminary investigation. Matthew had no obvious signs of trauma, according to an official statement released by the LAPD.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office eventually revealed on December 15 that Matthew died due to acute effects of ketamine. The Fools Rush In actor had undergone ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety before his passing, TMZ reported. The outlet added that the ketamine in Matthew’s system at the time “could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.”
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