Photo: Getty
Has he relapsed?
By Alice Kelly — Written on May 20, 2021
Matthew Perry’s slurred speech and teary eyes in the “Friends” reunion promotional videos have left fans of the sitcom worried for his wellbeing.
In one interview, Perry appears to struggle with his words as he discusses memories from his time on “Friends,” while in the trailer for the reunion episode, Jennifer Aniston is seen comforting him as he tears up over the show.
However, several other cast members are also seen getting emotional as they take a trip down memory lane.
Perry and Aniston are appearing alongside their former co-stars — Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer — for a one-off reunion where they will revisit sets, and reflect on their time filming the hit series.
But the filming of “Friends” is well-documented to have been a challenging time for Perry, who has struggled with substance abuse since the early 2000s.
Is Matthew Perry OK?
Perry appears to stumble over his words in the clip. “I stole the cookie jar that had the clock on it,” he said, pronouncing a distinct “sh” sound at the beginning of “stole.”
Fans took this as a sign that Perry’s addiction issues may be impacting him worse than we thought.
“Seeing Matthew Perry like this breaks my heart,” one person tweeted. Another simply replied, “Is Matthew Perry ok?” after seeing the video.
Another fan was concerned that Perry, who was known to be vibrant and outspoken in interviews, was unusually silent and appears to have been cut out of some of the talking clips in the interview.
Others accurately pointed out that the long-term, irreversible effects of addiction may have impacted Perry’s speech but this should not be used to discredit his sobriety.
However, concern for Perry comes after decades of tumultuous behavior from the actor. Here’s a look back at his addiction journey and why fans are fearful about his health.
Matthew Perry struggled with addiction during "Friends."
Revisiting the set may be a troubling blast from the past for Perry who has opened up about his abuse of alcohol and drugs during filming.
“From an outsider's perspective, it would seem like I had it all. It was actually a very lonely time for me because I was suffering from alcoholism," he says.
Perry later became addicted to pain medication and, though he says he was never high at work, he deteriorated over the decade on the show.
“Then eventually things got so bad I couldn't hide it, and then everybody knew," he said.
Perry also claims he “Doesn’t remember three years of it,” because he was “out of it” during filming.
Perry went to rehab twice while filming "Friends."
Perry’s first rehab stint, in 1997, was to battle his addiction to alcohol and prescription opioids which he started taking after a jet ski accident.
Perry attended treatment again in 2001 to deal with Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines, and alcohol addictions.
"I didn't get sober because I felt like it. I got sober because I was worried I was going to die the next day,” said Perry after his second stay at a treatment facility, revealing that a case of pancreatitis made him fearful about the health impacts of addiction.
Perry is an advocate for drug courts.
Turning his experience of addiction into something positive, Perry has become an outspoken voice in support of drug courts, which seek to offer treatment to those arrested on drug charges rather than sentencing.
In 2013, Perry visited the White House to hear Obama’s drug reform plan and said he wanted to help "people suffering from substance use disorders who are caught in the cycle of arrest and incarceration."
Two of Perry’s exes allege that he relapsed.
An adult film star, who claims to have had a fling with the actor in 2013, said that Perry had contacted her years later to ask if she could get him medication.
Another fling claimed in 2020 that she used to go buy drugs for the actor back in 2011, while she was five months pregnant, to avoid Perry being spotted.
Perry did admit to checking into rehab, for a third time, in 2011 as a precaution but implied that he was still sober at this point.
He was recently called out for messaging younger women on Raya.
In 2019, Perry tweeted that he had been expelled from his therapy before reports claimed that he was removed from a session because he was “texting models” on Raya instead of focusing on his therapy.
Sources also claimed, "Some of his pals are worried he's replacing an addiction to drugs and booze with an addiction to girls.”
Recently, a TikTok user shared a viral video of a FaceTime call she had with the actor.
Kate Haralson, who was 19 when the actor allegedly matched with her on Raya, says the actor asked her, “Am I as old as your dad?”
She has since been kicked off of the app for violating the strict privacy guidelines users agree to when first signing up.
Perry and fiancée Molly Hurwitz seem to be going strong.
As recently as April, Hurwitz was spotted out and about with Perry in Los Angeles, still wearing her engagement ring.
Alice Kelly is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Catch her covering all things social justice, news, and entertainment. Keep up with her on Twitter for more.