Matthew Perry Spent $7 Million ‘Trying to Get Sober’ Prior to His Death, Actor’s Sister Reveals
Written by oasis96.3 on September 29, 2026
(Yahoo) – New details about the life of Matthew Perry will be revealed when the Netflix documentary The One About Matthew Perry drops next month on the streamer.
The Friends star — known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit television sitcom — died at age 54 on October 28, 2023, from the acute effects of ketamine use, exacerbated by accidental drowning.
In the documentary’s trailer released Tuesday, September 29, Perry’s sister Mia Perry Bowick gave new insight into her brother’s ongoing battle with drug and alcohol addiction, revealing that he went to great lengths to try and maintain a sober lifestyle.
“My brother would talk about that feeling of emptiness or loneliness that he couldn’t quite fill,” she said. “He spent $7 million trying to get sober. That’s how seriously he took his disease.”
“All great stories have comedy and tragedy in them, and that certainly was Matthew’s story,” she added.
Snapshots from Perry’s life, including his time on Friends, can be seen in the trailer, with him saying in a voiceover: “Making people laugh — it’s a world that I wanna be involved in.”
The 17 Again star spoke about his desire to become famous and thought that, if he did, it would somehow calm his inner demons. However, he can be heard saying, “I was extremely happy when I got famous. Then it was like, ‘Uh-oh. This didn’t fix what’s inside me. This didn’t do what I thought it was gonna do.'”
Another video of Perry speaking to fans at an event that seemed to be following the release of his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, showed him saying, “I wanted to introduce myself and say that my name is Matthew and I’m an alcoholic.”
In his memoir, Perry spoke openly about his addiction to alcohol, drugs and nicotine, recounting moments that he tried to quit.
