At 4:10 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, police and emergency services rushed to a house located on a hill in Pacific Palisades, one of the most exclusive and picturesque areas of Los Angeles, very close to the beaches of Malibu. A woman called explaining that after going out to run some errands she had found a man, her boss, unconscious. Barely an hour later the world knew that that man was Matthew Perry, the beloved Chandler Bing of Friends, and the police confirmed his death. Perry had drowned in the jacuzzi of his house. He was 54 years old.
Night fell quickly in the city and the Pacific Palisades house began to fill with police and curious onlookers, especially neighbors. Perry’s house is not in a transit area, so only a handful of media and a few residents showed up there, with police cordoning off the area. Those who were seen entering the house were the actor’s parents. Divorced since he was barely a year old, John Bennett Perry, the actor’s father, and Suzanne Morrison, his mother, arrived in separate cars, accompanied by her husband of more than 40 years, Keith Morrison. A few hours later, the family released a statement mourning the death of Matthew Perry. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” they stated in their words. “Matthew brought so much joy to this world, as an actor and as a friend.”
“You all meant a lot to him, and we appreciate the immense expressions of love,” the brief note reads. Matthew Perry had no siblings born from his parents’ marriage, which lasted just two years, from 1968 to 1970, but he did have five half-siblings from the following marriages of each of them. In 1981, both John Bennett and Suzanne remarried and their relationships continue to this day. He, John Bennett, now 82 years old, was a well-known actor who acted in series such as Falcon Crest. He married Debbie Boyle, a screenwriter and children’s story writer, and they had a daughter, Mia Perry, in 1986. For her part, Suzanne, who was press secretary for former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, father of Justin Trudeau, married an NBC journalist, Keith Morrison, who also had a previous son. Between 1981 and 1989 they had four children, Caitlin, Emily, Willy and Madeleine. His father’s family lived in Los Angeles, while his mother’s first in Ottawa and then in Montreal, so Matthew Perry grew up between the United States and Canada. He, born in Massachusetts, USA, had both nationalities, American and Canadian.
Hence, another of the first condolences for Perry’s death came from Justin Trudeau, the current Prime Minister of Canada. Trudeau is just two years younger than Perry and they knew each other from childhood, when his parents worked together. “The death of Matthew Perry is shocking and very sad,” the president wrote on his Twitter profile. ”I will never forget our childhood games, and I know that there are many people around the world who will never forget the joy he gave them. Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew. “You were someone very loved and you will be greatly missed.”
The remaining five actors from the main cast of Friends has not reacted publicly, for the moment. But some other characters in the series have done it. For example, Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice, Chandler’s back-and-forth girlfriend, posted a photo of the two in a scene from the series: “What a loss… The world will miss you. The joy you gave so many of us in your too short life will continue. I feel grateful for every creative moment we shared.”
Also Morgan Fairchild, the actress who played Chandler’s mother in the series, dedicated him some words shortly after learning of his death. “I am heartbroken by the untimely death of my ‘son’, Matthew Perry. The loss of such a young and brilliant actor is shocking. I send my love and condolences to his friends and family, especially his father, John Bennett Perry, with whom I worked on Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest”.
I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my “son”, Matthew Perry. The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I’m sending love & condolences to his friends & family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road & Falcon Crest. #RIPMatthew pic.twitter.com/QWMsBVJEAr
— Morgan Fairchild (@morgfair) October 29, 2023
The singer Adele, who on Saturday night was performing at one of her concerts in Las Vegas, where she will be every weekend until next June, wanted to pay tribute to him during her Show. “I just want to say how much I love what he did for all of us,” she said.
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