George Clooney says Matthew Perry “wasn’t happy” even at the height of his fame on Friends. Almost two months after the actor’s death at 54 due to the acute effects of ketamine in a drug- and drowning-related accident, Clooney, 62, is looking back on the time that he knew Perry best.
“I knew Matt when he was 16 years old,” he told Deadline in an interview published Dec. 19. “We used to play paddle tennis together… And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid.” Clooney recalled Perry’s desire to be cast in a sitcom role before landing Friends, saying he often would express, “I just want to get on a sitcom, man. I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I would be the happiest man on earth.”
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But even after Perry was cast as Chandler Bing, a role he would play from 1994 to 2004, the star didn’t feel complete. “He got on probably one of the best ever [sitcoms],” said Clooney, who appeared on ER for much of Perry’s tenure on Friends. “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.”
Clooney continued that he wasn’t aware of Perry’s addiction issues, which the actor spoke of candidly 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,” the Ocean’s Eleven star confessed. “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.”
After Perry died, his Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston told Variety he was “healthy” and “happy” in the days leading up to the end. “He was healthy. He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape,” Aniston told the outlet earlier this month. “He was happy – that’s all I know.” She continued, “I want people to know he was really healthy, and getting healthy. He was on a pursuit. He worked so hard. He really was dealt a tough one. I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard.”
