Seven million dollars. That’s how much, according to his sister, Matthew Perry spent trying to stay sober and overcome his addictions.
Mia Perry Bowick talks about it on camera in the trailer for The One About Matthew Perry, the three-part documentary Netflix premieres on October 27. “That’s how seriously he took his illness”, she says in her first public appearance speaking about her brother since 2023.
The actor who played Chandler Bing on Friends said he had been to rehab 15 times. On one of those occasions, during treatment at a clinic in Switzerland, his heart stopped for several minutes.
The trailer shows another side of fame. Perry confessed that he was “extremely happy” when he became famous, but that success couldn’t fix what was going on inside him. Several people warned him that he could die if he continued like this. He himself acknowledged that he didn’t know how to stop.
He died on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54, after being found unconscious in the hot tub at his home.
What is a life worth when neither money nor success is enough to save it?