Matthew Perry has died

[catnipevergreen]

I'm absolutely devasted if this is true

It was Morgan Fairchild, it was a lovely post and I didn't find it distasteful at all myself but then I had read that MP had gone to see Kathleen Turner (who played his dad) in a play and when he went to see her backstage he called out 'hi dad' so I imagined it wasn't said in a way to offend anyone.

Just had a look ahis Wiki page - apparently when he was at school he beat up Justin Trudeau. That immediately marks him up

Perry’s mum, Suzanne, was a Canadian journalist who became press secretary to Pierre Trudeau - Justin’s dad !!

Quite a few people think Fidel Castro was Justin's Dad. Margaret was a bit of a wild child and spent some time in Cuba. The stories of her are legendary

So that should be Justin’s alleged dad !!

The funeral - did anyone else think of think of the scenes at Ross and Monica's Nana? Made me feel so sad to think of the 5 remaining Friends attending.

How young the all looked in that episode. 😞

I was just image searching Margeret and Pierre Trudeau. I remember Trudeau père as president; he didn't look much like Justin although Margeret quite a bit.

"This was an incredibly privileged man who knew nothing but privilege all his life. He made no secret of caring about no one but himself. He was handed that role on a platter because his family has serious media connections and then he did zero for the rest of his life except choose to hurt those who loved him"

"Ugh. That attitude you have of seeing him simply as a victim is actually one that the US moved on from a long, long time ago. It's really odd to encounter people in the UK who bleat "but he's sick" like that's the end of the conversation. Addiction becomes an illness but addicts are not helpless victims. It starts as a choice. Anyone who becomes an addict now knows exactly what they're doing."

What stupid and patronising comments. The second one sneering at the U.K. from the lofty US. The first for saying he was handed the role and a platter. This might have been pertinent if Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing was shit in the role and the rest of the cast had to carry him all throughout the episodes.

Sounds like this poster knows a) little about addiction and b) nothing about the show.

People are mourning a TV character, not a person

Magical thinking on your part. You really really don't know what motivates people.

"Ugh. That attitude you have of seeing him simply as a victim is actually one that the US moved on from a long, long time ago. It's really odd to encounter people in the UK who bleat "but he's sick" like that's the end of the conversation. Addiction becomes an illness but addicts are not helpless victims. It starts as a choice. Anyone who becomes an addict now knows exactly what they're doing."

I have to say I'm a bit baffled
By this. I was in San Francisco and Seattle this summer and saw addiction levels off the scale from anything I've ever seen in the uk. Reading up on the us state policies there doesn't seem to be much in the way of making addicts accountable.

Anyone who becomes an addict now knows exactly what they're doing.

That’s such ridiculous nonsense I don’t even know where to start. You really think totally clean, sober and happy people wake up and go “I know I’ll start hammering gin/fentanyl/heroin until I’m destitute, at death’s door and can’t function without a hit” of course they don’t. There are many many reasons people get addicted and many complex factors - from peer pressure, boredom, teenage thrill seeking behaviours etc to being prescribed dangerously addictive drugs for a medical condition, desperately trying to self-medicate ptsd or depression or cope with abuse, not to mention that alcohol is a legal everyday drug that many people don’t get addicted to while others do very fast, often before they’ve realised it.

of course addicts have responsibilities for themselves, of course they can be horrible to live with and cause harm to others, no one is saying they’re saints. Perry knew that well. It’s not black and white. it’s a hugely complex problem and many of the factors are not just the addict’s fault but are on a societal level. They way medical drugs are pushed by US businesses is one massive factor for example. If it wasn’t, addiction statistics would look the same in the UK as in the US but they don’t.

I agree. It’s just utter nonsense.

Addiction is utterly rife in the US.

In spite of the US having an alleged far superior understanding of the issue, and despite all addicts knowing exactly what they’re getting in.

Strange, that….

I’m genuinely gutted about this 😢 He seemed like a troubled soul though although extremely likeable. RIP Chandler Bing.

Anyone who becomes an addict now knows exactly what they're doing.

I hadn't spotted this bit. This really is daft. As if many people decide they want to live that life. Or even in the rare event someone did, 'hey heroin addiction looks glam I'll go for it' (?) it's hard to change your mind and get out of it, once they decide to.

And we have no reason to think Perry himself decided to be an addict. Quite the opposite.

Chandler Bing is a character 🙄

RIP Matthew Perry - we all love Chandler but he doesn't exist!

I’m quite sure the poster knows Chandler is a character. It’s meant affectionately because Perry was best known for that role. No need to snipe.

So is “Ms Chanandler Bong’ - his mistaken mail address from Friends, but people are still paying tribute that way. It’s affectionate, nothing more. The ‘eye roll’ is patronising and unnecessary.

The point is, Matthew died alone.

Saying ‘RIP Chandler Bing’, while well intentioned, only reinforces that people will miss the character, not the actual man.

For someone who (this will sound cheesy, but for anyone who’s read his memoir will know) never thought they were worthy of love, saying RIP to his character, is a post-humous constant hammering home of that….

You're right @GodDammitCecil and it's really tragic.

👏🏻

I was reading his autobiography when I heard that he had died. It was a very honest and difficult read. He was a talented man who just felt unloved, very self destructive and deliberately pushed away anyone who cared for him, tried to fill his inner emptiness with humour and had selfmedicated many times in his life with drugs and booze to feel "normal". When the book published he said he was very keen to be remembered for his work helping addicts with their addiction, rather than his acting on Friends. Very glad to hear that a foundation has been set up in his name to continue his work. RIP.

Don’t agree. He himself admitted that Chandler was as close as you could get to the real Matthew Perry, and I think this feeds into people identifying with the character they know and love as a reflection of the man himself.

Except Matthew Perry said himself that he hopes people remember him less for Friends / Chandler Bing and more for himself.