Matthew Perry ‘concerned’ ‘Friends’ creator at 2021 reunion

nypost.com:

Matthew Perry’s appearance on HBO Max’s “Friends” special in 2021 due to his past struggles.“Yes, I was concerned about him,” she told “Today” show’s Hoda Kotb in a pre-taped interview, which aired on Wednesday. “Knowing that he’d been through everything he’d been through, and every time he had surgery they’re giving him opioids for pain, and the cycle starts over again.”“So, yes, I was concerned about what point in the cycle he was in that moment.”Just days before the highly anticipated gathering — which brought together Perry and his former co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — Perry had “emergency dental surgery.”“They did all sorts of things,” the actor told Diane Sawyer during a sit-down that aired in October 2022, adding that the procedure “made [his] mouth feel like fire.”Fans noticed Perry’s slurred speech during the two-hour special.“It sounded like my voice was off,” Perry acknowledged Sawyer.

But he added that he knew he “couldn’t not show up” to the big event.“So what I chose to do was just go and do the best that I could,” he continued, noting that he did a “wear and tear on his voice and speech” at the time.At the time, viewers speculated that it was a deeper issue due to Perry’s years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

He opened up about his struggles and sobriety in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” which hit bookshelves one year ago on Nov.

1.Days before the memoir anniversary, Perry was found dead at age 54 at his California home on Saturday. He was found underwater in his hot tub and was unresponsive at the scene when first responders arrived.Prescription medications were found in his home.