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Matthew Perry Dead at Age 54 of Apparent Drowning

Matthew Perry has died at the age of 54, TMZ has reported.

The beloved “Friends” star was reportedly found dead in the jacuzzi of his home in the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles just after 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Law enforcement sources told TMZ that first responders rushed to the address after a call reporting a cardiac arrest. It’s currently unclear who phoned 911.

The sources said no drugs were found at the scene and no foul play is suspected.

In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Department told The Post: “We responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd for a death investigation on a male 4:10 p.m. this afternoon. He was in his 50s.”

Perry — who was not married and had no children — had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.

He opened up about his decades-long battle with addiction in a memoir titled “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” which was published last year.

Perry went to rehab 15 times and had undergone 14 surgeries to try and mitigate the damage done to his stomach lining due to alcohol and opioid use.

The actor claimed that he almost died in 2018 due to a gastrointestinal perforation. He spent two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital. He also had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.

“The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live,” Perry stated during a promotional interview for his book last year. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”

Last year, Perry claimed he had spent close to $9 million getting sober over the years — and finally triumphed. The star had been drug and alcohol-free since May 2021.

Earlier this week, the star shared an eerie final photo to his Instagram account which showed him in a jacuzzi.

“Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I’m Mattman,” the actor captioned the photo.

He was last pictured out in public by paparazzi in Los Angeles last Sunday, Oct. 22, on his way to dinner with friends.

Perry rose to fame playing fan-favorite Chandler on the iconic sitcom “Friends,” which ran from 1994 – 2004.

He was cast on the show at the age of 24, around the time his alcohol addiction started to manifest.

Three years later, in 1997, the star was prescribed opioids following a jet-ski accident — and he quickly became hooked on them.

His addiction got so bad that he was later taking 55 Vicodin pills per day and his weight plummeted to just 145 pounds.

During the height of his “Friends” years, Perry was often in treatment. He did multiple stints in rehab during the decade he filmed the sitcom.

“There were years that I was sober during that time,” Perry told People last year. “Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through,”

However, subsequently stints of sobriety were short-lived — and the damage to his health was long-lasting.

In recent years, Perry declared that he had finally triumphed over his addiction and was fighting fit.

“I’m a pretty healthy guy right now,” he stated in an interview with People in November of last year.

“What I’m most surprised with is my resilience. The way that I can bounce back from all of this torture and awfulness,” he added.

Perry was born in Massachusetts, but spent much of his childhood in Canada.

His mother, Canadian journalist Suzanne Langford, and his father, American actor John Bennett Perry, separated before his first birthday. Perry’s mother subsequently married “Dateline” journalist, Keith Morrison in 1981.

Perry grew up affluent in Ottawa, attending high school with Justin Trudeau, who serves as Canada’s current Prime Minister.

Dreaming of being an actor, Perry relocated to Los Angeles as a teen and began auditioning for roles in TV sitcoms and dramas. He had brief appearances in shows such as “Growing Pains” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” before his big break came with his casting on “Friends” in 1994.

In addition to that iconic role, Perry also went on to appear in other acclaimed shows, including Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.”

He also starred in several hit films, including “Fools Rush In” (1997), “The Whole Nine Yards” (2000), and “17 Again” (2009).

Perry never married and had no children, but he did have several headline-hitting romances.

He dated Julia Roberts between 1995 and 1996, with the “Pretty Woman” icon even making a guest appearance on the second season of “Friends.”

The star also romanced “Mean Girls” actress Lizzy Caplan and was engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz before their split in Jun. 2021.

READ 12 COMMENTS
  • 1stAand2ndA says:

    This comes as no surprise.

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