Matthew Perry’s friend denied the actor had fallen off the wagon before his sudden death.
“He was 100 percent sober when he passed,” Athenna Crosby told Fox News Digital in an interview published Thursday.
“I mean, I can’t know what exactly he was thinking or feeling. I can only share my experience. And, of course, he was his own person that maybe he had said, done or thought of things the day that he passed that I might never come to know.”
Crosby recalled having lunch with the “Friends” star at the Hotel Bel-Air just one day before he died.
“In the interaction that I had with him, he was extremely positive, sober, acting normal, spoke very well, did not give me any impression that he was under drugs or alcohol of any kind,” she shared. “So, I think people are speculating that this was a relapse situation. I just want to defend him and say that it was not.”
The model, 25, added that there was nothing out of the ordinary with Perry that stood out to her during their meal.
“I am now recalling all of the details about it just because the situation has been so tragic. And I’ve been kind of thinking like, ‘OK, was there anything that I, I guess, should have noticed or was there anything that stuck out to me?’ And honestly, no, there wasn’t,” she said. “He was so normal. He ordered a cheeseburger and had a Diet Coke and really just a normal day like any other day.”
Crosby previously came forward as one of the last people to see the actor before he was found dead in a hot tub on Oct. 28, saying that she was “devastated.”
“I wasn’t going to speak about this but what I will say is I had the honor of knowing Matthew personally,” she wrote on her Instagram Story on Tuesday alongside a black-and-white picture of Perry.
“I am so devastated from his death but felt it was in poor taste to talk about it publicly as the attention should not be on me but rather on him and his legacy and he was an extremely private person and I always respected that in our friendship.”
Crosby shared in her post that the sitcom star had spoken “enthusiastically about the things he had coming up in his life,” which reportedly included a role in the movie “Unworthy.”
The entertainment reporter also urged fans not to jump to conclusions as to how Perry died.
“Know that man was on a comeback and truly deserved more time on this earth,” she wrote. “Our entertainment industry has truly lost a legend. RIP.”
Crosby also shared earlier this week that her late friend wanted to make a movie about his life starring his “17 Again” co-star Zac Efron.
“He had worked with Zac Efron in the past on a movie, and he said that he wanted Zac Efron to play him as a younger version [of himself] and that he was gonna ask him soon to do that,” she told “Entertainment Tonight.”
“He was just looking forward to sharing more about his story and his recovery from addiction and really championing that cause to help more people, so he was so optimistic and happy about everything that he wanted to do.”
Photos emerged of Crosby’s Oct. 27 lunch date with Perry shortly after he died in his jacuzzi at his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 54.
No illegal drugs were on the premises, though prescriptions including antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs and a COPD medication were reportedly found on site.
Perry’s autopsy was completed last weekend, but his cause of death has been listed as “deferred” until the toxicology results come in.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ this week that Perry did not have fentanyl or meth in his system at the time of his death.
The Emmy nominee battled alcoholism and opioid addiction for years and detailed his journey to sobriety in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
But he was reportedly in a good place when he died and had even planned to launch a foundation to help others who were struggling with substance abuse.
His former “Friends” co-stars Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc mourned his loss in a joint statement Monday.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” they said.
“In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
New Yorkers also honored Perry’s memory by laying flowers and tributes outside of the Little Owl restaurant, which is located below the apartment building where the NBC sitcom was set.
