The One About Matthew Perry (Netflix)

[TheImpOfThePerverse2026]

Watched all three episodes, Jesus 😨

I read his memoir so nothing new.

I haven’t seen this. Can you elaborate?

It's a new 3 part documentary on Netflix. His sister tells a lot of the story but there's also footage of him when he was very young before he made it big on Friends. Stories from his old buddies who knew him back then who saw his decline and struggles with drink and drugs.

I remember the story of him being hospitalised with the perforated bowel, didn't realise he was in hospital for three months.

I remember him saying when you watched Friends, you could always tell if he was on either drink or drugs.

I just finished it. It was sad when they said how much he'd spent on rehab over the years.

He wanted so much to beat his addictions.

I have watched all three. He came across as not a very likeable person in his later years, probably because of all the addiction problems. The interviews with the old friends were so touching though and they were clearly absolutely devastated. He seemed to have a lot of understandable issues stemming from his childhood but you wonder how differently things might have turned out if he had never got the role on Friends.

I enjoyed (perhaps not the right word) it. It did feel somewhat limited - from his family only 1 sister featured along with a few friends and some ex girlfriends. It felt like just a small part of the story.

It wasnt Friends where he had the accident that got him addicted to painkillers though.

They were all asked but all declined on grounds of it being too difficult, grief wise.

@Cheese55Ah, that's completely understandable.

I meant more the effects of fame and immense amounts of money that came from Friends.

He had a yearly income of £20 million a year from royalties alone but he was desperate to be famous. He should of gone into counselling from an early age.

I didn’t finish it I found it very dull .

I just finished it tonight. I thought it was an interesting perspective.
Watching Friends at the time I had no idea how troubled he was.

In his book he says he was hung over from drugs/ alcohol on the set but never actively used when there.I dont think it was noticeable at the the time or even now in terms of affecting his performance

I think he had addiction problems before the fame , with alcohol. He had an addictive personality if such a thing exists. It's just so unfortunate how opiates were so easily prescribed back then and probably now. Such a waste .

Tbh I think he'd just have drank himself to death if that was all he could easily get.

It was very well done. His sister and 2 friends were great. There were a few things I wasn't aware of like the coma and how bad he was.

I also thought at the reunion he was on something and the media saying it was his recent dental work making his teeth not fit properly and slurred speech was a cover up but it looks like it was true.

He really did try , I was really impressed at him doing 3 meetings a day. The money he spent on rehab was unreal.

He was always my favourite in friends, couldn't watch it for over a year, not sure why, I don't know the guy and it's silly feeling sadness when I see him on TV.

He had a very full life, even though he felt empty inside, unfortunately he was surrounded by the wrong people (the ones that supplied and administered the drugs).

I enjoyed hearing about how the friends cast held hands walking up to his coffin. I'm sure they had their good and bad times with him and while I thought they would have been in it, it's totally understandable that they didn't take part.

When watching episodes now I am finding myself wondering if that episode was one of his good or bad days, I don't think I'll enjoy rewatching the wedding to Monica, knowing this was one of his worst times and he was living in a drug facility and was driven straight back after filming, you'd never know looking at it.

RIP Matthew Perry aka Chandler Bing

He did have periods of sobriety, 2 years at one point, his death was not deliberate on his part.

Im guessing he had been detoxed by the point of filming and was doing the counselling part

i found the first episode fascinating, ended up
reading his book straight after. There is a bit of me that does feel a little cynical about how relatively ok his childhood was (his parents sound lovely but too young yet he is very critical of them throughout the book) and that compared to most ordinary people, he described a pretty privileged upbringing although this is probably more evidence of addiction being an illness. It’s hard to understand how being so successful wouldn’t bring happiness.
I actually felt after the first few series of Friends his character faded away a lot- he was definitely my favourite and the funniest in rhe first couple of series but then became a bit repetitive and came across as a quite insecure and unhappy, particularly compared to the rest of the cast.

The 'unaccompanied minor' thing weighed heavily and led to feeling unlovable . But this does lean towards a disease because this wouldn't have affected everyone as deeply, so he was predisposed hence 'born an addict'.

I’ve read his book and thought his childhood was very unhappy.

It gave me a different perspective from reading 'Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing'.

He tried to beat the addiction but it was just too 'all consuming' for him. He tried and tried.

I've always likened him to a young Robin Williams and as Robin said "All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul".

I was shocked that anyone would have thought giving a drug and alcohol addict ketamine would be a good idea 🤯

It’s just sad, all the money and success and he was so unhappy and at the end so frail and vulnerable.

I liked his sister a lot.

Not interested. Just as bad as the other shite on netflix now.