THE WORLD HAS LOST A FRIEND

He endeared himself to millions as Chandler Bing on Friends, but actor Matthew Perry was a tormented, lonely soul who never found the love he so badly craved

- JANICE BECKETT-MSIZA

HIS book starts like this: “Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.” He had every reason to say that. Matthew Perry abused his body with so many drugs his colon exploded and he needed 12 surgeries to save his life.

But he was determined to beat the demons that would leave him alternatively emaciated and bloated, rob him of his front teeth and all but bring his career to a halt.

Friends say he was doing well and seemed clean in recent months, although there are also signs he might have fallen off the wagon again. Either way Matthew is now dead, found by his assistant in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home.

Was it a shock? Not really. There was so much damage there it was hard to imagine him living to a ripe old age. Was it sad? Yes, for many.

Here was a guy who could’ve had it all. He was good-looking, talented, a comic genius, rich and famous. He was Friends’ Chandler Bing and as Chandler might’ve said, “Could he be any luckier?”

But Matthew, gone at the age of 54, was also a tormented soul who never found anyone to share his life with.

“I’m a shmuck who’s alone in his house at 53, looking down at an unquiet ocean,” he wrote in his book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

And he died alone too, in the grounds of a beautiful mansion where he lived with only his dog for company.

DARK CLOUD OF ADDICTION 

Some reports claim Matthew's issues may have been rooted in babyhood, when he was given phenobarbital, a major barbiturate, for colic. He certainly had an addictive personality he downed his first bottle of wine at 14, starting a pattern that saw him routinely either drunk or high or both.