Morgan Fairchild, who played Matthew Perry’s on-screen mother in hit sitcom Friends, has praised the late actor for going public with his addiction struggles as she paid a heartfelt tribute following his shocking death at the age of 54.
Perry was found unconscious in a hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home on Saturday.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that his cause of death has been “deferred” while the investigation is considered “ongoing” by authorities.
As the world remembers the Hollywood star, who played Chandler Bing in the comedy, Morgan appeared on CNN Monday morning, where she described her former co-star as “terribly brave” for speaking publicly about his alcoholism and substance abuse in his memoir. .
“I think one of the bravest things he did in his career and his life was to go public, write this book, reach out to other people, try to help other people,” Morgan, 73, said. ). the program.
Friends star Matthew Perry died on Saturday at the age of 54. He was found unconscious in a hot tub
Morgan Fairchild, who played Matthew Perry’s on-screen mother in the hit sitcom, praised the late actor for making his addiction struggles public.
And that was one of the most endearing things about him, as they said in the intro: not only was he always the funniest guy in the room, the quickest wit, and seemingly the most cheerful and upbeat guy – but also one of the nicest .
“Having had friends and family with addiction issues in my life, people I cared about, I know how difficult that is for the addict and also for the people who love them.”
Reinforcing her sentiment, Morgan continued, “I thought it was terribly brave of him to want this to be part of his legacy as a human being.”
Perry was a smoker who also struggled with alcoholism and opioid addiction, but claimed to have been clean shortly before he allegedly drowned.
He spoke candidly about his problems after first entering rehab in 1997 for an addiction to pain medication following a jet ski accident.
He then returned in 2001 and 2011. In 2016, he told an interviewer that he doesn’t remember filming three seasons of Friends.
Despite hiding his demons from the public for years, Perry detailed his struggles in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing.
In the opening he wrote: ‘Hello, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”
Morgan called the late Chandler Bing star “terribly brave” for being so open about his battle with addiction
On CNN, she said Perry was “always the funniest guy in the room” and “also one of the nicest.”
Perry became famous for his role as Chandler Bing in Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004
He added: “People would be surprised to know that I have been mostly sober since 2001. Except for about sixty to seventy minor accidents over the years.’
Morgan appeared as Perry’s on-screen mother on Friends for five episodes between 1995 and 2001.
Thinking about her first interactions with Perry, she recalled, “I remember Matthew from the first day on set.
‘The show wasn’t a big hit yet when I started working on it and he came running up to me and literally jumped like a big puppy and said, “Oh, you won’t remember me, but I used to visit you on the radio .” set of Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest with my dad.”
Perry starred alongside Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow
Perry detailed his addiction problems in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing
She added: “There was that friendly and wonderful puppy feeling with Matthew. He was such a warm and wonderful, funny and creative young man.”
Turning her attention to Perry’s comedic timing, she said, “I got to work with some wonderful comics, including Robin Williams, and he (Perry) had that great quality of being so quick and so smart. fast, and that quick turn.
“He could just come out of nowhere with something you didn’t expect and make it work, especially when we were working with this kind of weird mother-son relationship that Chandler and Nora had where he was always so ashamed of her. and some of his neurosis trying to deal with his parents, which I think a lot of kids can relate to.
“He was just always so fast, just so fast. And in real life also very funny, very witty and it influenced his acting, his acting showed that, that quick turn that caught you off guard, that made you laugh, because he was just a very endearing, fun, wonderful, wonderful boy.’