Satvika Nitya/ Arts and Culture Editor

The world was taken aback by the news of American-Canadian actor Matthew Perry’s death last week. Known best for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom “Friends,” Perry’s charismatic sense of humor provided levity to everyone who met him or watched him perform.

On Oct. 28, Perry’s assistant found him unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home, and at 4 p.m., authorities responded to the scene where they confirmed his death. The cause of death has not been declared yet, but it was confirmed by LA authorities that there were no signs of foul play involved.

Perry, the son of actor John Bennett Perry and the onetime press secretary of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Suzanne Marie Langford, was born in 1969. He stepped into Hollywood as a child actor but his big breakthrough was when he was cast in “Friends” in 1994. At the height of its viewership, the show was being viewed live by over 50 million people.

Cast alongside Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox, Perry made his place in the ensemble as a comfort character for many, through his sarcastic delivery and wise banter. Despite his bubbly and sarcastic personality on screen, Perry struggled heavily with addiction. 

In his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry talked about his relationship with alcohol and opioids that began at the age of 14. Perry recounted that he did not spot the signs of alcoholism until he was 21 and had a rocky journey with rehab and relapses since going sober in 2001. He wrote that he had relapsed over 60 times and his substance abuse also led to a number of serious health issues, including a five-month hospitalization in 2018 following a colon rupture that left him with a 2% chance to live through the night.

After 2018, Perry started writing his memoir and made it a point to mention that he wanted his story to connect him to other sufferers of addiction and help them through their journey. So when the news of Perry’s death surfaced on the internet, especially that he was found in his own hot tub, many were concerned over the involvement of drugs. 

Though there were no illicit drugs found at the scene, according to police reports, there were prescription drugs obtained at his home. According to Fox News, toxicology reports released following Perry’s deathrevealed that there was no fentanyl or meth found in his system at the time of his death. 

Dr. Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner of New York City and a forensic pathologist said that based on the information released so far, the possibility of the death occurring because of natural causes, especially enhanced due to Perry’s history with surgeries and drugs, is highly probable. “The fact that he was found in a hot tub raises issues immediately about drowning or even heat stroke,” Baden said.

USD first-year Isabella Braun talked about Perry and his relationship with drugs.

“I feel like his death was expected, which is a terrible thing to say,” Braun said. “I think a lot of people expected it, and that’s really sad. And I know that he wouldn’t want to be remembered that way, but he struggled with drugs for so long and it just goes to show how hard the struggle against addiction can be. Even the after-effects. Knowing that your body has been through so much because of drugs. It’s really sad but for me I kind of expected it.”

Perry was laid to rest last Friday in a private ceremony attended by his family and friends. His co-stars and friends from “Friends” were also seen attending the ceremony at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. USD sophomore Sofia Quinonez discussed how hard it must have been for the cast to hear about Perry’s death.

“If that was me, and I spent over ten years with someone and I knew about their struggles, I would be very upset,” Quinonez said. “Questions about ‘What if I could have done more?’ or ‘What if I was there for him more?’ would always be there. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a dear friend die, especially when they’ve all been there since the beginning of his journey with addiction and already been through the life-threatening situations where they all would have been scared of losing him.”

Perry’s career is defined by his time playing the role of Chandler Bing on the show “Friends.” The show’s writers often consulted with Perry to come up with witty one-liners and jokes and also brainstormed ideas for delivery. People all over the world related to his character and after the news of his death, took to the internet to share their favorite clips and dialogues by Perry from the show. Warner Brothers Studios, the show’s distributor, and NBC, the platform on which the show first aired, both released statements expressing their condolences to Perry’s family and  close ones.

The show is now airing on Max, and in honor of Perry’s dedication and work for the show,  a tribute card that read “In loving memory of Matthew Perry 1969-2023” was added to the beginning of every season’s first episode. 

USD junior Emily Nguyen watched “Friends” growing up and talked about the loss of Matthew Perry.

“He played such an iconic role and he was such a big part of my childhood,   it’s just really sad,” Nguyen said. “Chandler was always  my favorite character, honestly. He’s just so funny and  Matthew Perry is such a talented actor. He was  the best part of the show and after hearing the news it just sort of feels like losing a part of my childhood.” 

In an interview with The Times in April, Perry said that he hoped to be known as someone who lived life, loved well and helped people. When asked how he would like to be remembered, Perry said that he hoped that “running into me was a good thing and not something bad.” Before his death, Perry was making plans to establish a foundation to help those with addiction issues, a decade after he founded Perry House, a men’s sober living facility which ran for two years.

Matthew Perry’s memory is carried out through those who knew him deeply and his life is celebrated by the courage he showed by talking about his addiction and the joy he passed on through his work as an actor.