Matthew Perry died from an apparent drowning Saturday. He was 54.
After a two-hour pickleball game in the morning, the actor made his way back home and asked his assistant to run an errand for him.
Upon his return, his assistant discovered an unresponsive Perry in his jacuzzi before calling 911.
In a statement to Pvnew, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that they “responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd for a death investigation on a male [at] 4:10 pm this afternoon.”
They also revealed that the male “was in his 50s.”
LA Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey also told us that their first responders got the call at 4:07 p.m. for a “water rescue or water emergency.”
He couldn’t confirm if the body was found in a tub, pool or hot tub, but the firefighters did not render aid.
Foul play is not believed to have been a factor in his death and drugs were not found on the scene either.
However, long before his passing, the “Friends” actor had come face to face with death throughout the years.
In his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” he revealed that he “nearly died” a few years ago at age 49 when his colon exploded from opioid overuse.
At the time, his publicist announced that he had suffered a “gastrointestinal perforation,” but he had actually spent two weeks in a coma and five months in a hospital due to his colon burst. He was also forced to wear a colostomy bag for nine months to treat the health crisis.
Perry wrote that doctors had advised his family that he only had a two percent chance to live and was hooked up to an ECMO machine which regulated his breathing and heartbeat.
The idea of having to permanently wear a colostomy bag is what Perry said helped him get sober.
“My therapist said, ‘The next time you think about taking OxyContin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life,’” Perry told People. “And a little window opened, and I crawled through it, and I no longer want OxyContin.”
That wasn’t the only time “The Whole Nine Yards” star came close to losing his life.
Read more about Matthew Perry’s life and struggles:
- 55 Vicodin & a quart of vodka: The most shocking tales from Matthew Perry’s tell-all memoir
- Matthew Perry: How to tell which drugs I used during ‘Friends’
- Matthew Perry reveals why he broke up with Julia Roberts in the ’90s
- Matthew Perry claims Cameron Diaz once punched him in the face on secret date
- Matthew Perry, Valerie Bertinelli made out while Eddie Van Halen was passed out
Around November 2020, during one of his many stints in rehab, the actor’s heart stopped for five minutes after doctors administered propofol that interacted badly with the hydrocodone in his system.
His life was saved with CPR but eight ribs were broken in the process, costing him scenes with Meryl Streep in “Don’t Look Up.”
And of course, Perry skirted death for years with his longtime addiction to drugs and alcohol.
He began dabbling with alcohol when he was 14 and became hooked on opiates after a jetski accident while filming “Fools Rush In.”
While filming “Friends,” Perry revealed that at one point he was downing a quart of vodka and 55 Vicodin pills daily.
Perry estimated that he shelled out millions over the years in a quest to achieve sobriety.
“I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober,” he said in a NYT interview.
