Five things we learnt from the Matthew Perry documentary on Netflix

Matthew Perry was frank and openhearted about the struggles with addiction that led to his death in 2023. Most memorably, he delved into his substance abuse issues in Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, his deeply personal memoir, in which he wrote of that jet ski accident that saw him hooked on painkillers and everything that happened afterwards.

Now, released almost exactly three years after he died, a new Netflix documentary sheds further light on the actor’s life and death through the intimate testimonials of his friends and his younger sister Mia Perry Bowick.

The three-episode documentary chronicles Perry’s rise to fame as the sardonic wisecrack Chandler Bing on Friends as well as his spiral into addiction issues with alcohol and drugs, including ketamine, a substance that he began using initially to treat depression. He died of an overdose of the drug in October 2023, with five people charged in connection to his death, including Jasveen Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen” who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Below are five key take-aways we learnt from watching The One About Matthew Perry…

Matthew Perry was just as excited about Monica and Chandler falling in love as his fans were

Millions will remember “The One with Ross’s Wedding” as the much-loved episode in which Chandler and Monica first get together in a shock ending to season four. According to Perry’s sister, the actor was as over the moon as his fans about the surprise love story between his and Courteney Cox’s characters – ensuring that his family were going to be tuning in to watch the episode in question.

“A lot of the show was really about Rachel and Ross, I think sometimes Matthew just didn’t feel quite as spotlit in the ensemble and when Matty got to come in with Courteney and have that together, he was really excited about it,” said Bowick, adding that the plot line also granted Perry the opportunity to flex his skills as an actor beyond the comedic routines he was known and loved for.

“He was not just silly Chandler anymore. It opened up a lot of new avenues with his acting in terms of being tender and romantic and vulnerable,” she said. “I think we all really knew how much Matthew wanted that too.”

Matthew Perry’s friends found the sitcom’s reunion special ‘tough’ to watch

In 2021, Perry participated in the hugely anticipated 25th anniversary reunion of Friends, joining his co-stars in an unscripted special. More than 5.3 million viewers in the UK alone tuned in to watch the six actors come together publicly for the first time since the show ended in 2004.

The TV special marked a rare appearance for Perry who had not made many public outings since 2018, when he nearly died after his colon burst due to an overuse of opioids that saw him comatosed for two weeks and using a colostomy bag for nine months following his surgeries. While most fans praised the reunion special as a joyous walk down memory lane, many viewers pointed out that Perry seemed to be unusually quiet and possibly unwell – a feeling that was shared by some of his peers and loved ones.

“The energy and life force in him was really diminished after going through what he went through,” said Bowick, who also noted that she thinks her brother, struggling with sobriety at the time, felt “relieved” after the special was released, and “really tired” after filming it.

Meanwhile, Jeff Straus, a writer and producer on season one of Friends, said: “In the reunion, I think Matthew behaviourally… announced that he had been on his own road. I think he knew that he couldn’t get to the place that everybody would want him maybe to be or that he would want to be. I think he was really aware of that.”

Another of his friends, Kevin Pollack, added: “He hadn’t been on camera in a while, and you could see him struggling in it. It’s tough to watch because he’s just not himself.”

Asked by the documentary team what he remembers of Matthew’s experience of the reunion, the actor’s long-time friend David Pressman replied: “I don’t really want to talk about that because… yeah, I think it just speaks for itself.”

Matthew Perry’s Friends co-stars walked to his casket hand-in-hand

While Perry’s death was mourned across the world by millions of fans who paid tribute to the actor in various ways, including vigils and remembrances, the actor’s funeral was a private ceremony for only family and close friends.

In one of the most moving moments of the documentary, Perry’s sister recalls some of her memories of the funeral, which was attended by David Schimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox, who all walked in together. “I hadn’t seen them in easily 20 years,” said Bowick, who tearfully recalled that Aniston was the first to give her a “big hug” followed by the rest of the cast members. “And then all five of them walked up to the casket holding hands and stood around him crying.”

Bowick went on to share a heartwarming moment from the funeral that occurred as they were moving Perry into a mausoleum, and was the first time she could sense her brother’s presence since his death. “He showed up right behind my shoulder and leaned over my shoulder and goes, ‘How f***ed up is this?’” said Bowick. “And I started laughing so hard. I was like, oh my God… There he is making me laugh at the most horrible moment.”

Matthew Perry invited a struggling friend he met at AA to live with him

While Perry will forever be known as the comedic genius behind Chandler Bing, the actor once said that he wanted to be remembered first and foremost “for the things he did to try and help other people” – namely in relation to his work helping fellow addicts, which includes the founding of sober-living facilities, and his vocal support of a public health approach to criminal offenders with substance abuse issues.

Tim Harrington is one of the many people whom Perry helped enormously. Speaking in the documentary, Harrington recalls how he met the actor in 2001 at an AA meeting during a “hopeless” time of his life when Perry offered Harrington a crucial life line that, he said, ended up saving him.

“One day we were at California Pizza Kitchen and I’m starting to stress out. I don’t see a future. I don’t know that I can continue to go without having another drink. My friends are still using… the guy I’m living with. I’m losing. I have nowhere to go,” said Harrington, who had planned to live in his car when Perry told him to get his stuff and move in with him. “Wow, what a moment,” said Harrington. “He saved my life right there in that moment. I believe that.” They lived together for about a year.

Over time, they became close friends and would support one another in their sobriety, going to as many three AA meetings a day: one at 7.30 in the morning before breakfast and then another at noon, followed by a third in the afternoon. In the car on the way to these meetings, Perry would play the 2009 song “Tears of Jupiter” by Train on repeat, according to Harrington.

Matthew Perry jumped on the bed in celebration of his big Friends pay-day

It made headline news when in 2002 Perry and his five co-stars signed a deal with Friends producers that would earn each of them an estimated $1m per episode for season nine.

The moment that Perry heard the news himself was relayed by Harrington, who had been living with the actor at the time.

“When I moved in, they were in negotiations,” said Harrington. “And one day, I’m sitting in the bed and he runs in from his room, which is directly across the hall, and he jumps on the bed and he screams, ‘I just made $26 million!” or something like that. He was super excited that they had actually pulled it off.”

“He was very happy, but he was still struggling with his own stuff,” he said.