BEFORE HE WAS cast in Friends, actor Matthew Perry sent up a prayer. “God, you can do anything you want to me, just please make me famous,” he opined. 

Perry got his wish. He was soon one of the most famous people in the world, at the tender age of just 24, thanks to the 1994 launch of the series Friends. His years of auditions and dreaming of being a star were over. He would never have to audition again. 

But as Perry himself says in the Netflix documentary The One About Matthew Perry, the man upstairs kept up his side of the bargain. Fame came with a side order of addiction that had a devastating impact on Perry’s life and career.

Story of a life

Mia Perry Bowick Netflix Netflix

You might feel some trepidation going into watching The One About Matthew Perry. Will this be a lurid three-part documentary that dives straight into the terribly sad final few years of Perry’s life? Or will he be shown some respect?

Thankfully the answer is the latter. The documentary features interviews with those closest to Perry – his sister Mia, best friends, ex-girlfriends and filmmakers – though notably no one from the Friends cast took part. There’s clearly an urge to tell Perry’s story patiently and sensitively, and it’s not until the second episode that his issues with addiction are delved into.

This means that, thankfully, we get to indulge in enjoying the Perry that those of us who watched Friends knew and loved. We learn that he was not that dissimilar to his character Chandler Bing, a man who came across as happy-go-lucky but who used comedy as a way to bond with people and help him deal with his personal traumas.

Clips of some of his previous roles show that he was a wonderful talent, with a sensitivity that added a gentle edge to his dry barbs and witty one-liners. He was the last person cast in Friends, and it’s impossible to imagine anyone other than him playing Chandler, a character who had hidden depths beyond his wisecracking. 

Fame’s impact

Matthew Perry and friend David Pressman Netflix Netflix

Perry wanted to be famous and had his prayers answered, but the documentary shows that practically overnight he had his privacy removed from him. Like his co-stars, he was thrust into the world of celebrity, which brought with it paparazzi, the tabloids and the spoils of fame like trips to the Playboy Mansion.

Perry clearly enjoyed the trappings of fame, but he also became aware that it didn’t erase any of the difficult emotions he harboured. The son of divorced parents, he grew up in Canada and mostly saw his actor father on TV. His sister indicates that it was difficult for Perry at times being part of a large family with multiple step-siblings, and having to travel between Canada and LA to spend time with his parents.

Perry’s drug addiction issues began after he was prescribed painkillers following a jet-ski accident on the set of a film. However, the documentary shows that he already had a bad relationship with alcohol from a young age.

Sadly, it became obvious to onlookers that Perry’s health wasn’t great when he appeared on an episode of Oprah in 2004 looking thin and drawn. This was the beginning of Perry taking multiple trips to rehab, which he had to balance with a blossoming screen career. The toll of this burden must have been immense.

Addiction troubles

Matthew and Mia Perry COURTESY OF NETFLIX COURTESY OF NETFLIX

The second half of episode two and all of episode three of the documentary show what a difficult road Perry was on from this point onwards. It’s a deeply sad watch, particularly because on screen Perry brought audiences lightness and fun. To his fans, he was a tonic – a guy who rarely punched down with his humour, and who excelled at the type of physical, slapstick comedy that harked back to early Hollywood stars like Buster Keaton.

He provided us with escapism on screen, but he had to keep up a public life while in the grip of addiction. What comes across so clearly in this documentary is that Perry was loved deeply by his family and friends. His addiction clearly devastated them; they had to watch a talented, beloved man become a shadow of himself, even as he tried and tried to get healthy.

If there is a cautionary tale in this documentary, it’s that fame is not an answer, a solution or a balm. It will not make your personal issues disappear. Fame can also mean that when you are struggling with an addiction that refuses to release its hold on you, you might have to suffer in public in the most unfair of ways.

Perry had to live out his troubles in the limelight, in large part because of a grotesque tabloid interest in his illness. But he knew the power of his celebrity, so he generously gave his time to advocating for other people with addiction issues. He also wrote a memoir that recounted his experiences in humorous yet unflinching detail.

At the end of this documentary, you feel the love that all who knew Perry held for him. But you feel the loss too, the deep sadness that the actor – who died aged just 54 – never got to live out his full potential, and perhaps never got to see what others saw in him.

The One About Matthew Perry is streaming on Netflix now.