Of the six 20-somethings cast in "Friends," Matthew Perry was the last one to get the call back. When he auditioned, former NBC entertainment president Warren Littlefield couldn't get enough.
Sandwiched between "Mad About You" and "Seinfeld" on Thursday nights, "Friends" premiered in 1994 to a live audience, and by the finale a decade later, 52 million people tuned in. Despite being the last one to join the cast, Perry would have the last word in the "Friends" finale, and is fondly remembered for playing Chandler Bing, a character defined by his charisma and sarcastic one-liners.
The Netflix documentary, "The One About Matthew Perry" (streaming now), traces the totality of the late star's life from projects like "Friends" and "The Whole Nine Yards"
to public battles with addiction that he'd later document in his memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing."
The three-part project, which arrives one day short of the third anniversary of Perry's death, features a rare interview with his sister Mia Perry Bowick, who reflects on his near-death experience in 2018 to his aspirations of a wife and kids. "Friends" cast members Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt Le Blanc and Courteney Cox are not featured in the documentary.
Perry died at age 54 in the jacuzzi of his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office later ruled his death an accident, caused by "the acute effects of ketamine" with contributing factors including drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine.
"If Matthew were here, he would say today that the addiction that he struggled with throughout his life wasn't a failure of willpower or anyone's actions or inactions, but a disease," director Mary Robertson tells USA TODAY. "It was very important to him that we understand that substance abuse disorder was a disease."
Here are the biggest takeaways from the doc, including the millions he spent to get clean and his tear-filled funeral attended by "Friends" alums.
Monica and Chandler's marriage in 'Friends' epitomized Matthew Perry's aspirations
As Monica and Chandler's relationship builds throughout the series − from their one-night stand in London to their eventual engagement − the two elope in the Season 7 finale. It's not long before they become adoptive parents, and by the show's finale, head for the suburbs.
It's a fairytale that Perry had longed for. Perry was in and out of rehab during filming, Perry Bowick says, and his family came to the wedding episode taping as they worried about his well-being. Perry Bowick called it a happy memory "mixed with some sadness."
"To try to navigate relationships while also battling this crippling addiction is, I would say, near impossible," Perry Bowick said in the documentary. "So the unspoken truth that we all were sitting with in some way or another was, is this his wedding?"
Matthew Perry spent millions trying to get sober
Perry's struggles with substance use began to boil over in the latter half of "Friends," according to his sister. Following the show's second season, Perry got into a jet ski accident and doctors prescribed him Vicodin. The actor took up to 55 Vicodin painkillers in a given day while filming "Friends" and reached a staggering 128 pounds.
"He would take just enough to make him feel OK, but not enough to appear high, which is tricky, especially the further along you get. He would need to manage his withdrawal symptoms, tremors, and stuff between takes," Perry Bowick said in the documentary.After insistence from concerned family members and friends, Perry went to rehab. Over his lifetime, he checked into rehab more than a dozen times, spending more than half of his life in treatment centers or sober living facilities by age 49. Visits proved challenging for Perry Bowick, who recalled in 2001 when she became inconsolable and ran out of the room crying and hyperventilating.
Overall, Perry Bowick said her brother spent about $7 million to get clean. (Perry previously estimated he spent about $9 million combating his addiction in a New York Times interview.)
Perry became an unfiltered advocate for others struggling with addiction
Despite his ongoing battle with addiction, Perry became a co-advocate alongside former National Association of Drug Court Professionals CEO West Huddleston. The "17 Again" actor often recounted his own struggles with prescription drugs and alcohol use, and pushed to put nonviolent drug offenders in treatment programs, not prisons.
He accepted theChampion of Recovery awardfrom the Obama administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2013.
Mia Perry Bowick recalls Perry's near-death hospitalization
In 2018, Perry had a near-death experience after his colon burst from opioid use. When his sister arrived at the intensive care center, she had given birth weeks prior at the same medical facility, she said in the documentary.
"I come in, I am covered in milk and spit up, so postpartum, and I'm staring at him in the bed, and it was the first I had seen him where I went, 'Oh, this is it, he’s not waking up,'" she recalled.
Amid the terror, she found a Batman action figure beneath his bed, which reflected the late star's obsession with the Dark Knight.
Doctors later put Perry on an ECMO machine, a temporary life support that supports the heart and lungs, and told his family he had a “2% chance to live.” As Perry spent two weeks in a coma, Perry Bowick said she spent every day by his bedside alongside other family members. He spent five months in the hospital and nine months with a colostomy bag.
Matthew Perry's sister details his close relationship with live-in assistant Kevin
His live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who administered at-home injections of ketamine to Perry, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years and five months behind bars. Iwamasa was the last person charged, following the arrests of addiction counselor Erik Fleming, "Ketamine Queen" Jasveen Sangha, Dr. Salvador Plasencia and Dr. Mark Chavez. All five defendants ultimately pleaded guilty.
Perry Bowick got emotional as she described Iwamasa as someone she met as a child and a "good fit" for her brother after his colon ruptured.
"Matthew really, really trusted him," Perry Bowick said. "They were together every single day."
Heartbreaking 'Friends' reunion at Matthew Perry's funeral
Perry's death left an indelible impact, as fans mourned the "Friends" star's death around the globe. Close friends, family members and the immediate cast of the hit sitcom attended his intimate, open-casket funeral in November 2023.
Aniston, Kudrow, Schwimmer, Le Blanc and Cox approached his casket holding hands and began to cry, Perry Bowick recalled. It was a moment marked by deep sadness and fond memories.
"We do laugh at funerals," Robertson says. "We do cry at weddings. This was characteristic of Matthew's life. I would argue it's characteristic of all of our lives. He lived a bigger life in many ways. His highs were higher, and his lows were lower than is true for many other people. But there was great comedy and there was great tragedy in his life."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Matthew Perry's sister details 'Friends' cast's heartbreaking goodbye at funeral
