Matthew Perry’s emotional return for the 2021 Friends reunion masked a battle that left his loved ones deeply worried. His family and friends later revealed how sobriety struggles and lingering health problems weighed on the actor.
The HBO Max special marked Perry’s first major public appearance since a near-fatal medical emergency in 2018. Although he wanted to reassure fans that he was doing well, his recovery remained far from complete.
Matthew Perry was reportedly ‘just not himself’ in the 2021 ‘Friends’ reunion, friend claims in documentary
In Netflix’s The One About Matthew Perry, friend Kevin Pollak described the difficult period surrounding the reunion. “It’s tough to watch, because he’s just not himself,” Pollak said, explaining that Perry had not appeared on camera in a while. As per Page Six, He added that Perry was “struggling with sobriety” and facing “a lot of pressure.”
Perry’s sister, Mia Perry Bowick, explained that his health had deteriorated significantly after 2018. “Because his health was so bad, he hadn’t really been out in public since 2018,” she recalled. Returning alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer made him “very nervous.”
“He wanted to be like, ‘I’m here. I’m good, everything’s fine,’” Bowick said. However, that reassurance was “only sort of half-true.” Former Friends writer and producer Jeff Strauss also believed Perry understood he could not meet everyone’s expectations. After filming, Bowick remembered him feeling “relieved” and “tired.”
The documentary also revisited Perry’s devastating 2018 health crisis. His colon ruptured following opioid overuse, leaving him in a coma for two weeks and requiring months of hospitalization. His 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing, detailed the ordeal, including nine months with a colostomy bag.
Doctors reportedly found multiple ruptures that caused “intense sepsis.” Perry underwent several surgeries and required an ECMO machine, which Bowick compared to “an iron lung.” “His fingertips were turning black. There was a possibility that he would lose his fingers,” she said.
Learning opioids caused the crisis felt like a “slap in the face,” Bowick admitted. She recalled feeling angry before recognizing the grief families endure when loved ones struggle with addiction. Perry died at 54 on Oct. 28, 2023. His autopsy cited the acute effects of ketamine and drowning. The One About Matthew Perry is now streaming on Netflix.
