“Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman spoke about the positive conversation she had with the late star of the show Matthew Perry — just two weeks before reports surfaced on Saturday that he had died. He was 54.
Kauffman spoke to the “Today” show on Wednesday and said Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the hit series for 10 years, seemed better than he had been in a long time and recalled the chat “was great.”
“He was happy and chipper. He didn’t seem weighed down by anything,” Kauffman added. “He was in a really good place, which is why this seems so unfair.”
In an exclusive interview, ‘Friends’ creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane remember Matthew Perry.
They speak to @hodakotb about the loss of the actor, the last conversations they had with him and the impact he made in the world. pic.twitter.com/96FcJkbghE
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 1, 2023
She said her first instinct when she heard the heartbreaking news was to text him and said she was in “utter shock.”
“And then deep sadness. So much sadness,” the co-creator said. “It’s hard to grasp. One minute he’s here and happy and then poof. And doing good in the world. Really doing good in the world.”
“He seemed better than I had seen in a while,” she added. “I was so thrilled to see that. He was emotionally in a good place. He looked good. He quit smoking. 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.”
Co-creator of the show David Crane joined Kauffman in the virtual interview for the NBC morning show and was asked by the host about Perry’s prior quote that people would be “shocked about his passing but not surprised.”
“Given the journey he’d been on, and we were all aware of it, there was always a part that was kind of bracing for something like this,” Crane said. “It is still hard to believe because he was such an alive person, that it’s hard to believe he’s not here.”
Perry was found unresponsive at his home in his jacuzzi on Saturday, TMZ noted. No illegal substances were found at the scene, and no foul play was suspected. On Wednesday, the outlet reported that the toxicology report on Perry found the late actor did not have fentanyl or meth in his system when he died.
The official cause of death is currently filed as “deferred” until full test results are provided, a process that can take several months.
Perry, who appeared in all 234 episodes of “Friends” during its 10-season run, had been open in the past about his long struggle with addiction to alcohol and prescription painkillers, as previously reported.