Matthew Perry tragically died last year, with the Friends actor, 54, found dead at his California Home in October 2023.
Perry was reportedly found unresponsive in the swimming pool of his home in the Pacific Palisades area, with his death ruled an accidental drowning. However, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office later attributed his death to the “acute effects of ketamine”.
Perry had long struggled with addiction, and in recent years he has been most celebrated for the work he has done for substance abuse awareness after his own experiences.
Multiple people have spoken out in the last year to praise the extent of Perry’s help, recalling the actor reaching out to them in times of crisis, offering reassurance and guiding them to seek help.
This week, almost one year on from Perry’s passing, Kelly Osbourne came forward with her own story, revealing how the actor once supported her during her first time in rehab.
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Osbourne shared the anecdote during her appearance on TMZ Investigates: Matthew Perry and the Secret Celebrity Drug Ring, recalling that she and Perry were in a rehabilitation centre at the same time. And seeing that she was struggling, Perry reached out to her with a touching gesture.
“I was 19 years old, and I was in rehab for the first time, and I just wanted to run,” Osbourne, now 39, explained in the documentary. “He could see that I was struggling, and he walked up to me, and he gave me a chip, and it said, ‘Just three minutes.’ And he told me, ‘If you can get through three minutes, you can get through anything.’”
She continued: “That chip got me through that day, which then got me through the next day, which then got me through the next day. And I’ll never forget that moment.”
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Friends guest star Hank Azaria is also among those who has praised Matthew Perry’s support, revealing on social media that Perry helped him to get sober.
“I’m a sober guy for 17 years,” Azaria explained. “I want to say that the night I went into AA Matthew brought me in. The whole first year I was sober, we went to meetings together. As a sober person he was so caring and giving and wise and he totally helped me get sober. I really wish he could have found it in himself to stay with the sober life more consistently.”
“The best thing about me is that if an alcoholic or drug addict comes up to me and says ‘Will you help me?’ I will always say ‘Yes, I know how to do that. I will do that for you, even if I can’t always do it for myself’,” Perry famously wrote in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. “So I do that, wherever I can. In groups, or one on one. And I created the Perry House in Malibu, a sober-living facility for men.
“When I die, as far as my so-called accomplishments go, it would be nice if Friends were listed far behind the things I did to try and help other people.”
We will continue to update this story.
