George Clooney Says Longtime Friend Matthew Perry ‘Wasn’t Happy’
Academy Award winner George Clooney has paid tribute to his longtime friend Matthew Perry, who he first met when the Friends star was just 16. “We used to play paddle tennis together. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid,” Clooney told Deadline. He remembered Perry telling him he’d be the “happiest man on earth” if he landed a regular part on a sitcom. “And he got on probably one of the best ever. He wasn’t happy. It didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace,” Clooney said. Perry, who starred on Friends for its entire run, died in October after taking ketamine. For years he’d struggled with substance abuse and depression; a foundation in his name now works to aid those dealing with similar struggles. “It was hard to watch because we didn’t know what was going through him,” Clooney said of seeing Perry on set. “We just knew that he wasn’t happy and I had no idea he was doing what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff.”
