Sean Penn has praised Matthew Perry’s courage in the way that he spoke out about his addiction in order to help others who are suffering.
Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday (November 22), the Oscar-winning actor explained that while he did not know the late Friends star well, he admired the openness in the way that he handled his struggles.
“I can’t claim to have known him well, but I liked him very much,” he said. “He seemed to be talking about it, had confronted it, and was very intelligent and bold about it. And generously offering his experience to people to be helpful.”
Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on Friends, was found dead in his hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28. He was 54 years old. A private funeral service was held on November 3.
Penn, who appeared in two episodes of Friends in 2001, added: “It’s tragic, I can’t say that I was terribly surprised. I don’t know what the whole coroner’s report things and everything, but I know he had done a lot of damage to his organs over the years.”
“He got to leave that tale behind, and he got to give a lot of joy to a lot of people with his talent,” he said. “So, I wish his family well.”
Perry had been open about his experiences with addiction, which began in 1997 when he became addicted to pain medication after a jetski accident. He later revealed he was not able to re-watch episodes of Friends because it inadvertently gave him a timeline of his addictions.
He had previously said he couldn’t remember filming several seasons of the show and had spent over $9million trying to get sober.
He was forthright about his addiction in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, released in 2022.
Earlier this month, Perry’s Friends co-stars Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow shared touching individual tributes to the late actor on their respective Instagram pages.
Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman said Perry was “happy” and “doing good in the world” before his passing.
“He seemed better than I had seen in a while. I was so thrilled to see that,” she explained. “He was emotionally in a good place. He looked good. He quit smoking.”
Kauffman continued: “Yes, he was sober. He learned things throughout this and what he learned more than anything is that he wants to help other addicts, and it gave him purpose.”
Perry’s official death certificate was released earlier this month. According to reports, it stated that his cause of death was still “deferred” following inconclusive initial autopsy results.
The toxicology report had confirmed earlier that Perry’s death was not caused by a methamphetamine or fentanyl overdose.