Matthew Perry seemed to be in high spirits just two weeks before his death, Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman says. She and her Friends co-creator David Crane appeared on The Today Show on Wednesday to discuss Perry’s legacy and his unexpected passing. While Perry has famously had some hard times, the two said that he had been happy and hopeful in recent months, making his death that much more heartbreaking.
Kauffman said that she last spoke to Perry about two weeks before his death. She recalled: “It was great. He was happy and chipper. He didn’t seem weighed down by anything. He was in a really good place, which is why this seems so unfair.” News of Perry’s death broke on Saturday via TMZ, and Kauffman said she was in “utter shock” when she first heard it. She said: “My first instinct was to text him, honestly. And then deep sadness. So much sadness.”
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“It’s hard to grasp,” Kauffman went on. “One minute he’s here and happy and then poof. And doing good in the world. Really doing good in the world. He seemed better than I had seen in a while. I was so thrilled to see that. He was emotionally in a good place. He looked good. He quit smoking. Yes, he was sober. He learned things throughout this and what he learned more than anything is that he wants to help other addicts, and it gave him purpose.”
Perry battled with addiction for most of his life, including the years he was filming friends with Kauffman and Crane. He has long been the subject of rumors and secondhand anecdotes, but last year, he shared more of his experiences in his own words than ever before in his memoir. There, he emphasized that he frequently sought treatment and was frustrated when it didn’t work. He hoped his stories would resonate with other addicts and that together they could gain new insights on the disease and get better at treating it.
Perry was found unresponsive at his L.A. home in his hot tub and declared dead by police officers. They said that there were no drugs or alcohol on the scene and no signs of foul play. Perry’s official cause of death is still under investigation. In the meantime, many fans are mourning the actor online and revisiting his work – including Friends – at home.
