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    • Family Talks About ‘Friends’ Star on ‘Today’ Show
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    Family Talks About ‘Friends’ Star on ‘Today’ Show

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    Matthew Perry’s family is remembering the late ‘Friends’ star a year after his death.

    The family — including Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, stepfather and “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison and sisters Caitlin, Emily and Madeline Morrison — opened up to Savannah Guthrie in a “Today” show interview that aired Monday.

    Perry, who was 54 at the time of his death, was found unconscious and face down in the “heated end” of his pool a year ago on Monday, October 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office was unveiled in December 2023. last year that Perry’s cause of death was due to “the acute effects of ketamine.”

    “It hits me so hard that he’s not here,” Suzanne Morrison said.

    “I am a very happy woman,” she said. “But there was one little problem, there was one problem I couldn’t overcome, I couldn’t help him.”

    “Oh god yeah,” Keith Morrison said of Perry’s “light up the room” personality. ‘It’s something you’re either born with or you’re not born with. And he was definitely born with it in spades.”

    “But it must be said, I think, that in his soul he was very lonely,” Perry’s mother said, as her husband intervened: “The kind of appearance that people know hid an insecure, often very sad man.”

    Perry played the role of Chandler Bing on the hit 90s and early aughts sitcom “Friends.” He was open about his struggles with addiction, especially in his New York Times bestseller “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” a culmination of his decades-long battle with sobriety, alcoholism and drug addiction.

    “If it doesn’t stop, we’re going to lose so many million people,” Perry’s mother said through tears.

    Matthew Perry’s mother says she felt a ‘premonition’ before the ‘Friends’ actor’s death

    The interview also highlighted the family’s work to establish the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada. Suzanne Morrison shared Perry with her ex-husband John Bennett Perry, their only child together. The Morrisons, who married in 1981 and have four children of their own, founded the foundation to help agencies and organizations that help people struggling with addiction and substance abuse.

    “No amount of money will cure an addict, they need something else,” said Keith Morrison.

    Prosecutors in California have charged five people in connection with Perry’s death for “distributing ketamine to Perry during the final weeks of the actor’s life.”

    Three people have pleaded guilty: Dr. Mark Chavez, a former ketamine clinic operator; Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa; and an acquaintance, Erik Fleming.

    Doctor Salvador Plasencia, 42, and Jasveen Sangha, 41, who the Justice Department press release referred to as North Hollywood’s “The Ketamine Queen,” were charged with 18 counts for their roles in Perry’s death. Both have pleaded not guilty.

    Suzanne Morrison said she was “thrilled” that charges have been filed in connection with Perry’s death.

    “What I hope, and I think the agencies involved in this, hope is that people who have put themselves in the business of supplying people with the drugs that are going to kill them, that they are now aware,” says Keith. Morrison said. ‘It doesn’t matter what your professional qualifications are. You’re going down, baby.”

    Matthew Perry’s family remembers hearing about his death

    News of Perry’s death came via a phone call to his family.

    “Someone called Suzanne and he just said, ‘Matthew is dead,’” Keith Morrison said, as Suzanne Morrison said, “Matthew is dead.” Your son is dead.”

    Perry’s mother recalled a conversation with the actor shortly before his death in which he told her, “I love you so much, and I’m so happy to be with you right now,” saying, “almost as if it was a premonition .’

    “There was an inevitability to what was going to happen next to him,” Suzanne Morrison said.

    The family reflected on Perry’s addiction, with Keith Morrison believing to some extent that the actor was still sober when news of his death came, while Perry’s mother was not so sure.

    “I don’t even know if he had relapsed in his mind,” Sister Madeline Morrison added.

    When asked what she missed most about Perry, Emily Morrison recalled that her brother was “grumpy all the time” and “funny all the time,” speaking through tears as she said Perry would “do anything for you ‘.

    “All he ever wanted was to love and be loved,” she said. “He had so much trouble feeling peace, and I think he got to a place where he did that.

    Suzanne Morrison reflected on the guilt she felt about not knowing how to help her son through his addiction, and shared advice for other parents and loved ones in the same situation.

    “The one thing I have to learn – (and it’s very hard) – is to stop blaming yourself because it’s tearing you apart,” Suzanne Morrison said.

    If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health and/or substance abuse disorders, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s free and confidential Treatment Referral and Information Service at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). It is available 24/7 in English and Spanish (TTY: 1-800-487-4889).

    Contributors: Taijuan Moorman, Jay Stahl and KiMi Robinson

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