Monday marked the one year anniversary of the death of the former Friends star Matthew Perry. On October 28, 2023, he was found dead in his hot tub from an accidental ketamine overdose.
Now, his stepfather Keith Morrison, who is best known for his work on Dateline, is speaking out to say that Perry had no idea how beloved he was when he was alive.
He shared some very touching sentiments that Perry’s fans will want to hear.
Perry Didn’t Realize How Beloved He Was
“There was a period where you’d pick up a tabloid and you’d see a picture of an overweight actor looking not great, walking along the street or going to a restaurant,” Morrison, 77, told People Magazine.
“And he, I think, had [felt] that he failed,” he continued. “He didn’t understand that he was somebody who was loved — he would never have believed it.”
This partially changed after the 2022 release of Perry’s bestselling memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.
“He came back from the book tour and he still was pinching himself, [saying] ‘I can’t believe that people actually seem to like me,'” Morrison recalled.
Sure enough, Perry’s openness about his own addiction had touched people. That, and Friends is turning out to be a much larger cultural touchstone for Gen Xers and Millennials than was imagined.
“It was brutally out there, and he seemed to be at a place where he had finally beaten it. I think he put that in the book in a way, hoping that he would beat this,” Morrison stated. “Maybe if I say it in public, if I say it in a book, if they remind me of it all the time, maybe I can succeed. He put it all out there.”
Perry Secretly Still Struggled With Addiction
Sadly, behind the scenes, Perry was still struggling with addiction. In his final days, Perry’s personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa was injecting him with ketamine six-to-eight times a day.
“Matthew said to us — and he said it publicly, ‘That if I die suddenly you may be shocked, but you probably won’t be surprised,’” Morrison recounted. “So it’s that kind of thing.”
“It’s a disease — and it’s a disease that affects vast numbers of people,” he added.
Morrison went on to say that “we didn’t know how much of it he was taking.”
Indeed, when Perry passed away, Morrison thought he was still sober.
“It certainly seemed like it to me, that he was — though he had been treated with ketamine, that it hadn’t turned into something that he couldn’t control,” Morrison explained. “Although, you know, he was a guy who would make decisions. ‘I can handle this…I can do this…I can tell you what’s right. I know the whole system inside and out, I know what the drug will do to me.’ So there was that worry of, ‘What’s he really doing?’”
On the one year anniversary of Perry’s death, Morrison appeared on the Today show. He was joined by his wife Suzanne, who is Perry’s mother, and their daughters Emily, Madeline and Caitlin.
Check out their interview in the video below.
Related: Matthew Perry Was Manipulated By His Inner Circle Before His Death, Investigation Argues
Perry’s Legacy
Morrison was asked what Perry would want the public to understand about addiction.
“That every person suffering with substance abuse needs to understand, if they don’t already, that this is not a moral failing,” he replied.
“We’re not unique,” he admitted. “Our son was famous. And those I meet on the streets who say, ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ I appreciate every single one of them. And somehow I want them to know that I completely understand that we are just one family among millions who have suffered this same kind of loss and we’re one family because we know that his dying wish was to be remembered for helping other people, more than his famousness for Friends.”
“That has now become our mission in life,” Morrison concluded, “to carry that wish on.”
Morrison is still missed by his family, friends, and millions of fans to this day. May he rest in peace.