Matthew Perry ‘struggled’ before ‘Friends’ reunion, says pal

People close to Matthew Perry shared that the late actor was “struggling” ahead of his final TV appearance in 2021. Friend Reunion special.

In the Netflix documentary the one about matthew perryThe star’s friends and family look back at what he went through in the years before his untimely death.

Perry’s friend said, “It’s a tough time, because he’s just not the same.” kevin pollackSaying that the actor had not appeared in front of the camera for some time.

Pollack said that before filming the HBO Max reunion special, Perry was “struggling with sobriety” and feeling “a lot of pressure.”

In the documentary, Perry’s sister mia perry bovik It also reported that “because his health was so poor, he had not really gone out in public since 2018.”

When Perry decided to attend the 2021 reunion — which brought her together with former co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — her sister confessed that she was “very nervous about coming back.”

“[He] Wanted to be like, ‘I’m here. “I’m good, everything’s fine,” Bovik said, though that was “about half the truth.”

Bovik continued that her brother’s “energy and vitality” had “diminished” following his near-death experience in 2018, when his colon ruptured from opioid overuse.

Doctors told Bovik that Perry’s colon had ruptured in several places, causing “acute sepsis” throughout his body, she recalls.

Friend The star had to undergo several surgeries to repair his colon, and “at one point the decision was made to put him on an ECMO machine, which is basically like an iron lung.”

He confessed, “His fingers were turning black. There was a possibility he would lose his fingers.”

Bovik said learning the cause of Perry’s health scare felt like a “slap in the face.” At the time, she was “angry at him” and thought, “You did this to yourself, man… it was really hard.”

Bovik saw Perry for the first time during her months in the hospital and was afraid she might wake up.

When? the whole nine yards When the actor came home from the hospital, “he was still in really bad shape,” Bovik recalled.

Friend The reunion was his first major public appearance since the health crisis.

“At the reunion, I think Matthew… knew he wasn’t going to be where everyone wanted him to be… I think he was really aware of that,” Jeff Straussa former Friend Writer and producer, scattered across documentaries.

According to Bovik, after filming it, Perry felt “relieved” and “exhausted”. “He was in that position of ‘How do I move forward?’ I know he was really scared, I know he was really fighting for his life.”

“A part of him didn’t think it was possible to live a sober life,” he said.

While she refused to “give up hope”, Bovik began to think of her addiction as “an incurable disease”.

Perry died in a hot tub at his California home on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54.

According to the autopsy report, he died from “acute effects of ketamine” and drowning.