George Clooney shares more about his decades-long friendship with Matthew Perry and why he believes in the actor’s success Friends it didn’t bring him the happiness he always wanted.
While promoting his new film Boys in a boat, Clooney (62) opened up about his relationship with Perry. Clooney specifically noted that he witnessed Perry’s battle with addiction while the duo starred on their NBC shows — Emergency and Friends – few years ago.
“I knew Matt when he was 16,” Clooney said Deadline. “We used to play paddle tennis together. He’s about 10 years younger than me. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid.”
The Oceans Eleven star recalled how Perry often shared his dreams of landing a role on the hit TV show when he “was a kid.”
“All he would say to us, I mean to me and Richard Kind and Grant Heslov, was, I just want to get on a sitcom, man. I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I’d be the happiest man in the world,” he recalled to the outlet.
George Clooney in ‘Friends’ circa 1996 alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Noah Wyle.
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Remembering the life and career of Matthew Perry in photographs
Although Perry ended up getting the role of Chandler Bing Friends, Clooney said he’s still “not happy.” Despite fulfilling his childhood dreams, he claimed Perry’s feat “didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace.”
With the Clooneys Emergency and Friends since they were filmed “side by side” on the same NBC sound stage, the pair would see each other often. Emergency broadcast from 1994 to 2009 and Friends aired from 1994 to 2004. In 1995, Clooney even guest starred in an episode of the legendary sitcom.
“And watching it happen on the ground — we were at Warner Brothers, we were there side by side — it was hard to watch because we didn’t know what he was going through,” he continued of Perry’s struggles with abusive content, which the actor has discussed at length spoke during his life.
“We just knew he wasn’t happy and I had no idea he was doing, what, 12 Vicodin a day and all this stuff he was talking about, all this heartbreaking stuff. And it also just tells you that success and money and all that stuff doesn’t bring you just automatically get lucky,” he added. – You must be satisfied with yourself and your life.
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Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox in ‘Friends’.
NBCU/NBCUniversal/Getty Photo Bank
Jennifer Aniston says Matthew Perry ‘wasn’t struggling’ before death: ‘He was happy’
On October 28, Perry was found dead at his home in Los Angeles. He was 54 years old.
Last week it was established that Friends actor died from the acute effects of ketamine, according to a Los Angeles County Coroner’s autopsy report obtained by PEOPLE. The document also cites drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine as contributing factors to his death.
The autopsy stated that Perry was “reportedly clean for 19 months” before his death, although he had practiced ketamine infusion therapy and had his last treatment “a week and a half before” the accidental drowning. However, the coroner noted that “the ketamine in his body at the time of death could not have been from that infusion therapy, since the half-life of ketamine is 3 to 4 hours or less.”
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Matthew Perry.
Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic
Matthew Perry opens up about his addiction journey with new memoir: ‘I’m grateful to be alive’
During his life, 17 Again star has been vocal about her battle with addiction. In his memoirs from 2022. Friends, lovers and the big scary thingPerry opened up about his journey with sobriety and the sense of pride he felt for staying clean.
“I wanted to share when I’m safe from going to the dark side again,” he told PEOPLE at the time. “I had to wait until I was fairly sober—and far from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction—to write it all down. I was pretty sure it would help people if I did.”
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Although Perry struggled with substance abuse while acting Friends, spoke highly of how the role brought him – and fellow cast member, Jennifer Aniston. Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — viral fame.
“It changed my life in every way. I got the show when I was 24; the show ended when I was 34. It shaped my life. And it was the time of my life,” Perry previously told PEOPLE.
Of the cast’s support through his ongoing addiction, Perry said, “They were understanding and patient.”
He added: “It’s like a penguin. In nature, when one is sick or badly injured, other penguins surround it, support it and walk around until that penguin can walk on its own. And that’s something the cast did for me.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the SAMHSA Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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Source: HIS Education