As his what would have been his 56th birthday approaches, ITV revisits Matthew Perry’s death in a new film centred on his rise to fame and the addictions he couldn’t overcome.

Matthew Perry met a tragic end in October 2023(Image: ITV)

He made the world laugh as Chandler Bing in Friends, but Matthew Perry’s real-life story was far more harrowing than his razor-sharp one-liners ever let on.

Now the late actor makes a posthumous return to our screens in Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, a moving documentary airing on August 18, just one day before what would have been his 56th birthday.

Some of his closest pals – including his on-screen mother in Friends, Morgan Fairchild – have agreed to open up on his addiction battle with raw honesty.

The hour-long film lifts the lid on Matthew Perry’s personal battles with trauma and inner torment. More importantly, the programme explores an addiction so relentless it shaped every chapter of Matthew’s life – and ultimately ended it.

With exclusive interviews with journalists, celebrity friends and law enforcement, the documentary also includes excerpts of Matthew’s 2022 autobiographical memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing, in which he recalled his rise to fame and his lifelong battle with alcohol and drugs.

Born on 19 August 1969, Matthew Langford Perry was raised in Ottawa, Canada, after his parents’ split. His mother Suzanne, a journalist and press secretary to former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, raised him while his father, American actor John Bennett Perry, was largely absent. Their relationship was strained and complicated by distance due to John’s budding career in Hollywood.

Matthew Perry rose to fame in the 90s as Chandler Bing in Friends – a character that still makes the world laugh(Image: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

“I was sent on a plane from Montreal, Canada, where I lived with my mom, to Los Angeles, California, where I would visit my dad. I was what is called an ‘unaccompanied minor,’” Matthew wrote in his book.

“For maybe a millisecond, I thought it would be an exciting adventure and then I realised I was too young to be alone and this was all completely terrifying.”

John’s absence left its mark on young Matthew. “I saw his face more often on TV or in magazines than I did in reality,” he wrote. “Perhaps that’s why I became an actor.”

But acting, and the fame that came with it, couldn’t soothe the pain. At 14 years old, Matthew had his first drink – a bottle of wine. During an interview with Canadian broadcaster Tom Power, he recalled the moment with heartbreaking clarity.

“I drank the entire bottle and just felt better than I ever had in my entire life,” he said at the time. “I thought to myself this is probably what normal people feel like all the time.” That feeling sparked a decades-long battle with substances – alcohol first, then painkillers.

Speaking in the film, Matthew’s close friend and fellow actor, The Simpsons star Hank Azaria, credits Matthew for throwing him a lifeline during his own battles.

“Matthew was the first friend I made in Los Angeles,” Hank says. “We did a pilot together. It never saw the light of day but Matthew and I became really good friends. We were really more like brothers for a long time.” And it was Matthew who took Hank to his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in 2005, a gesture that changed his life for good.

Morgan Fairchild aka Nora Bing in Friends tried to help Matthew Perry with his addictions(Image: ITV)

Matthew’s own spiral deepened while filming the movie Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek in 1996. After suffering a jet ski accident on Lake Mead, Nevada, Matthew started taking opioids – ushering in what eventually became his most crippling addiction.

“There was an incident and he hurt himself. He was given opiates for pain – thus began a new addiction,” US reporter Deborah Wilker says in the documentary. “At that point, he wasn’t aware of his problems with alcohol. But it was a new level with painkillers.”

His struggles weren’t just behind the scenes. Viewers saw it play out as his weight visibly fluctuated during the different seasons of Friends.

Some of his co-stars, like Morgan Fairchild, who played Chandler’s mother, Nora Bing, offered him a shoulder to cry on. “I tried to reach out,” Morgan says in the documentary. “I’ve had other people in my life who have had trouble with alcohol or drugs.”

Despite Matthew’s attempts at sobriety, one substance kept calling him back: ketamine. The powerful anaesthetic, used legally in low doses in the US for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety, became his drug of choice up until his final days.

On 28 October 2023, Matthew was found unresponsive at his Los Angeles home. The toxicology report later confirmed that he had succumbed to acute effects of ketamine.

At the time, Matthew had been receiving ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, a treatment gaining popularity for mental health conditions.

But in August 2024, an even darker truth came to light: five individuals were charged in connection with Matthew’s death. Among those arrested were two doctors and a woman, identified by authorities as the so-called “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha.

Sangha, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with five counts of ketamine distribution, including one count of distribution resulting in death. She is set to go on trial in September.