Matthew Perry's mother shares emotional insights on his loneliness, addiction
In a recent interview with Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, late F.R.I.E.N.D.S actor Matthew Perry's mother, Suzanne Morrison, opened up about her son's long-standing battle with substance abuse and drug addiction. The heartbreaking conversation aired on Monday, exactly a year since Perry's untimely demise on October 28, 2023. "I'm a very lucky woman, but there was one glitch...that I couldn't conquer it," Morrison said, fighting back tears.
'Matthew's dead. Your son is dead': Morrison recalled tragic news
Morrison and her husband Keith, who have been married since 1981, recalled the heartbreaking phone call they received on October 28, 2023, informing them of Perry's death. "Somebody called Suzanne, and he just said, 'Matthew's dead,'" Keith shared. Echoing his words, Suzanne added that the person on the other end of the line stated bluntly: "Matthew's dead. Your son is dead."
Perry's final days were filled with 'meaningful conversations'
The couple also reminisced about Perry's life, calling him a "light up the room personality" who was often tormented by his own thoughts. "I think that he was also very lonely in his soul," Suzanne said. In the days before his death, Perry had been having deeper conversations with his mother. "I think there was something...there was an inevitability to what was going to happen next to him...But he said, 'I'm not frightened anymore.' And it worried me."
Perry's cause of death and posthumous legal proceedings
Perry, who was 54 at the time of his death, was discovered dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home. The cause of death was later determined to be acute effects of ketamine, with drowning and coronary artery disease as contributing factors. Before his demise, Perry had told his family that he was using ketamine—an anesthetic used to treat depression and pain—to help him through his addiction.
'We didn't know how much of it he was taking'
"We didn't know how much of it he was taking," Keith confessed, later adding that it "hadn't turned into something he couldn't control." Post Perry's death, five people including two doctors and his personal assistant were charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine in connection to his demise. The actor's use of ketamine reportedly "spiral[ed] out of control" in the months leading up to his sudden death.
