The official Friends Instagram account has paid tribute to Matthew Perry following the actor’s tragic death at the age of 54.
Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the beloved sitcom, has been found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home.
Fans have been left devastated by the death of the iconic actor, who was loved for playing the sarcastic and hilarious character.
An official joint statement from Friends and Warner Bros TV paid tribute to Perry on Saturday in the wake of the sad news.
The reports said: ‘We are devastated to hear of the death of Matthew Perry. He was a true gift to all of us.
Sad: Friends’ official Instagram account has paid tribute to Matthew Perry following the actor’s tragic death at the age of 54
“Our hearts go out to his family, loved ones and all his fans.”
Perry, who rose to fame as the sarcastic Chandler Bing in the groundbreaking ’90s sitcom, was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday after emergency services were called around 4pm local time.
He had reportedly played a two-hour game of Pickleball – a sport similar to tennis but played on a smaller court – earlier in the day before sending his assistant out on an errand. When they returned, Perry was found lifeless in his hot tub.
Friends, which followed the lives of six friends in their twenties living in New York, was a huge success around the world when it aired between 1994 and 2004, and reruns are still hugely popular years later.
Perry won a global fan base for his role as Chandler, which earned him an Emmy nomination in 2002, but behind the glitz and glamor he secretly battled substance abuse for decades.
There was no evidence of foul play and no drugs were found at the scene of his death, sources said this morning.
The cast of Saturday Night Live also paid tribute to the star shortly after the former Friends star’s sudden death at the age of 54 was confirmed.
A black and white photo of Perry closed the final episode of NBC’s late night sketch show – on this occasion hosted by comedian Nate Bargatze.
Star role: Perry rose to fame for his role as “Chandler Bing” on the hit ’90s sitcom Friends, which ran for ten seasons
Heartbreaking: Friends star Matthew Perry’s cause of death has been revealed after his global fanbase was shocked by news of his passing; pictured November 2022
Perry himself had previously hosted the show on October 4, 1997, at the height of his mainstream fame with the American sitcom Friends, which featured indie band Oasis as musical guests.
He was the fourth star of the hit show to host Saturday Night Live after Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox served as joint hosts in 1995, with Lisa Kudrow appearing the following year.
Perry’s one-episode tenure included a Friends parody, in which the actor played womanizing roommate Joey — a character made famous by Matt LeBlanc — while Colin Quinn played an effeminate version of Chandler.
Others who have paid tribute to the late star include singer Adele, who interrupted her show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, the site of her ongoing Vegas residency, to speak about the actor, who she described as “probably the best comic character of all’. time.’
“It’s always so shocking, especially someone who made you laugh and brought so much joy into your life that you don’t know. I find this so strange, I’ve never met him in my life. There’s something, you feel so sad about it, especially because you didn’t necessarily know what was going on,” she told the crowd.
“I’ll remember that character for the rest of my life,” she added about Perry’s Friends character Chandler Bing. “He’s probably the best comedy character of all time.”
In his latest post to his Instagram, shared earlier this week, the star shared images of him in his pool and said: ‘Oh, so the warm water swirling makes you feel good? I’m Mattman.’
Perry has been openly outspoken about his problems with drugs and alcohol after first entering rehab in 1997 for what was said to be an addiction to painkillers following a jet ski accident.
Throwback: He is pictured in a publicity photo for season one of Friends, which started in 1994
Sad: In his last post on his Instagram, posted earlier this week, the star shared images of him in his pool
After this first period, he went to rehab again in 2001 and 2011. In 2016, he told an interviewer that he doesn’t remember filming three seasons of Friends.
An old friend of Perry’s – who was recovering with him – told DailyMail.com: ‘Everyone is in a total state of shock. People are crying on the phone and struggling to accept this news.
“It’s no secret he’s struggled with drugs and alcohol for years, but the last time I spoke to him, which was in recent weeks, he seemed to be in a good place.
‘He was cheerful and sounded down-to-earth and positive.
“He had been to rehab seventeen times and almost died from opioid abuse, but he was someone who was sincere about taking his life and his sobriety one day at a time.
‘It’s such tragic news. Everyone prays he doesn’t relapse. Matt was a really nice guy. He was always the first to welcome newcomers to the group and always volunteered to help and serve.
“We are all struggling to come to terms with this terrible news.”
The Friends star exposed the culmination of his terrible battle with drug and alcohol addiction, which nearly cost him his life, in a memoir titled “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir.”
Pictured: (l-r) Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt Le Blanc as Joey Tribbiani
Perry also revealed that his colon ruptured as a result of his opioid addiction when he was 49.
The doctors gave him only a two percent chance of survival and he was in a coma for two weeks, followed by another month in the hospital.
Perry required fourteen surgeries to repair all the abdominal damage, and he admitted to going to rehab fifteen times over the years in hopes of kicking his drug addiction.
At one point during his Friends career, he admits he was taking 55 Vicodin a day and only losing 128 pounds, yet he still “didn’t know how to quit.”
He told an interviewer in 2016 that he doesn’t remember filming three seasons of Friends.
“I had this weird rule that I would never drink on set,” Perry said. ‘But I went to work in extreme cases with a hangover. It’s so terrible to feel like this and also have to work and be funny.’
He even revealed that he would go to open houses – not because he was interested in buying real estate, but to see if he could steal drugs from medicine cabinets.