George Clooney Claims Matthew Perry ‘Wasn’t Happy’ on ‘Friends’

George Clooney and Matthew Perry in file photos. Jason Merritt/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images

George Clooney claimed in a new interview that “Friends” actor Matthew Perry wasn’t happy while he starred in the popular sitcom, coming weeks after Mr. Perry died at age 54.

“I knew Matt when he was 16 years old. We used to play paddle tennis together. He’s about 10 years younger than me. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid,” Mr. Clooney, 62, told Deadline Hollywood.

He added: “He was a kid and all he would say… was, ‘I just want to get on a sitcom, man. I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I would be the happiest man on earth.' And he got on probably one of the best ever.”

Although the actor achieved that goal while appearing on “Friends” until its end in 2004, Mr. Perry wasn’t satisfied, said Mr. Clooney. “Friends” was one of the most-watched shows throughout the 1990s and early 2000s on NBC, and it also starred Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow.

“He wasn’t happy. It didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace. And watching that go on on the lot—we were at Warner Brothers, we were there right next to each other—it was hard to watch because we didn’t know what was going through him,” he continued to say.

“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,” Mr. Clooney added.

Before his death, the “Friends” actor said that he would take dozens of opioid pills per day, including Vicodin, to avoid drug withdrawal symptoms.

“And it also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn’t just automatically bring you happiness. You have to be happy with yourself and your life,” Mr. Clooney, who appeared on “ER” throughout the 1990s, added to the publication.

He also recalled that the two “were all really close. We were at the upfronts in 1994 in New York.”

Mr. Perry died on Oct. 28 after drowning in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles, according to a medical examiner’s report that was released last week. It said the actor had also, in part died, of “acute effects of ketamine,” a dissociative hallucinogenic drug that is sometimes prescribed for therapeutic use.

Other contributing factors to his death included coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug that can be used to treat opioid addiction, according to the report. The medical examiner’s report said Mr. Perry was receiving ketamine infusions on a regular basis and that his last approved dosage was about a week before he died.

The examiner’s report suggested that Mr. Perry may have taken ketamine recreationally because the drug has a half-life of approximately four hours.

Mr. Perry detailed his history of drug problems in a 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir.” “I would like to be remembered as somebody who lived well, loved well, was a seeker,” the actor also said on the “Q with Tom Power” podcast in 2022. “And his paramount thing is that he wants to help people. That’s what I want.”

And in October 2022, Mr. Perry told The New York Times he had been sober for 18 months after suffering from a near-death experience years before that.

After his passing, Ms. Aniston said earlier this month that he “had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy—that’s all I know.”

“I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.” “I want people to know he was really healthy, and getting healthy. He was on a pursuit. He worked so hard,” she told Variety.