‘Fatigued’ Matthew Perry cut short his pickleball game… hours later came the panicked phonecall to his family: TOM LEONARD on the tragic Friends star’s final hours

Friends star Matthew Perry may have relapsed into drug use and had been unusually tired in the final days of his life, it was claimed last night.

The troubled actor died Saturday evening at the age of 54 in an apparent drowning accident in the backyard hot tub of his Los Angeles home.

While police sources said they had found numerous prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs in his home, a close friend revealed there had been worrying signs of ‘fatigue’ in the days leading up to his death.

Perry was obsessed with playing pickleball – a game similar to tennis and table tennis – but it is said that he went home early from a match at a country club near his home and complained of fatigue, just a few hours before he was discovered.

Although Perry normally played the match twice a day, he had only been on the field for an hour on Saturday before heading home, his regular partner told TV presenter Billy Bush.

“(Pickleball) ran his days,” Bush said. “I talked to the woman he played with this morning and every morning. She is in shock, loved Matt…she said he was tired today and for the past week. A little more than normal.’

Friends insist Perry has been in good shape in recent weeks and believe he has managed to stay sober.

Although police said they found no illegal drugs in his home, sources told the website TMZ that they discovered a stash of prescription drugs, including antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs and a drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, breathing problems such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis . Perry had been a smoker.

Sources close to his Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow said she was “stunned” by his death after he finally found “peace with himself.” She promised to attend his funeral and maybe even adopt his beloved dog Alfred.

“He was enjoying life,” a source close to DailyMail.com said. “He was closer than ever to his parents and was actively involved in his sobriety. She is baffled as to the cause of his death.”

One possibility that reportedly worries the actress and other friends of Perry is that he may have taken a medication that reacted poorly to the heat of the hot tub.

“While no one wants to believe it was medication – prescribed or not – that is of course a thought in their mind,” the source added.

“They think he took something that didn’t mix with the hot water.”

Only a toxicology report, which could take months, will determine exactly what role his addictions played in his death and whether, as friends fear, he may have fallen off the wagon.

Perry was found unconscious in his hot tub at his £5.6million mansion in the posh Pacific Palisades area of ​​Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon.

After playing pickleball, he reportedly asked his assistant to pick up a new iPhone and a pair of prescription glasses for him. Two hours later, the assistant returned to his home and, finding him unconscious in his hot tub, called emergency services and then his mother and a sibling. The police do not suspect foul play, but cannot provide a cause of death.

His parents, Suzanne Morrison and actor John Bennett Perry, and his stepfather – TV crime journalist Keith Morrison – arrived at the house that evening, ashen-faced.

In a short statement, the family said: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother. Matthew brought so much joy into the world, both as an actor and as a friend.

“You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the enormous outpouring of love.”

Tributes also came from the makers of Friends, who, in a moving reference to the show’s iconic episode titles, dubbed the day ‘The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken’.

The sitcom’s co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, along with executive producer Kevin Bright, said they were “shocked and deeply, deeply saddened” by Perry’s death.

They added: ‘It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him in our lives. He was a brilliant talent.’

Gwyneth Paltrow also revealed that the pair shared a kiss “in a field of long grass” the summer before the Friends pilot aired in 1993 – and changed Perry’s life forever.

The Sliding Doors star said: “He was so funny and so sweet and so fun to be with. We drove out to swim in creeks, had a beer at the local college bar, and kissed in a field of long grass.

‘It was a magical summer. He was nervous and hoped his big break was just around the corner. It was.’

Neighbors describe Perry as friendly and approachable. He had that reputation in Hollywood, an actor who – in his own words – was remarkably similar to Chandler, the sarcastic but self-effacing character he played in Friends.

However, he openly admitted that he had hidden his true self for a long time, fearing that it would repel others. Friends fans didn’t know until years later that the prickly Chandler they watched and loved every week often showed up to tape the show with a bad hangover (in 2016, he admitted he didn’t actually remember being three had filmed seasons of the show because he was a ‘little of it at that time’).

He also said he had had therapy twice a week for 30 years and had attended 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Although it didn’t do much good, because he ignored his doctors and considered detox as ‘hell’.

Aware of his self-destructive reputation, he wrote in his autobiography last year: “It is very strange to live in a world where it would shock people if you died, but surprise no one.”

In his last interview in April, when he spoke at a book festival in LA, he was asked how he wanted to be remembered. He didn’t mention Friends, but instead replied, “As a man who lived, loved well, lived well and helped people.” Me bumping into it was a good thing, not a bad thing.”

He was just as optimistic in 2022 when he joked to People magazine, “I’m pretty healthy now. I don’t have to go to the gym much anymore, because I don’t just want to be able to play superheroes.’ He declined to say how long he had been sober, but said he had waited to publish his book until “I was safe from the dark side of everything again.” He added, “I had to wait until I was reasonably safely sober – and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction – to write it all down.”

But how safe was he from the dark side? Just when the smile Perry flashed for the cameras during his rare public appearances obscured the fact that those brilliant white teeth were false (since the real ones had fallen out when they bit into a slice of toast), it seemed that he was a man who was still battling his problems. demons.

Aside from his pickleball commitments, his public outings have been few and far between in recent months. The Saturday before his death, he was kidnapped from a hamburger joint with a male friend, filthy dressed in sweatpants, laceless sneakers and an oversized T-shirt.

His social media posts were erratic. In his latest Instagram post earlier this week, the star shared photos of himself in his pool and said: ‘Oh, so the warm water swirling makes you feel good? I’m Mattman.’

He seemed happier two weeks ago when he posted a photo of himself with his father, fellow actor John Bennett Perry, 82.

“Here I am, and my dad John, both with drinks in hand,” he wrote on Instagram, alongside the photo of the two smiling at the camera while holding cups of what looks like Coca-Cola.

Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe on Friends, said last year that Perry’s addiction was “a horrible disease, and he has a hard version of it.” The actress added, “What doesn’t change is his will to keep going, to keep fighting and to keep living.”

It will now be left to the coroner’s office to reveal just how successful Matthew Perry was in fighting that battle to the end.