“If I run into the guy, I’ll apologize”: FRIENDS Star Matthew Perry Regrets Insulting Keanu Reeves With His Heath Ledger Joke
Every woman wants a Chandler Bing in her life, a character Matthew Perry immortalized from the sitcom FRIENDS. The actor gained recognition with the series Boys Will Be Boys in 1987. But Matthew Perry became a household name around the world with FRIENDS, one of the most loved sitcoms in the history of entertainment.
The 53- year old actor even tried his luck in movies with- Fools Rush In, 17 Again, Almost Heroes, The Whole Nine Yards, and Three To Tango. He also released a memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing in November 2022, which became an instant hit. In the memoir Matthew Perry opened up on his fame and his battle with substance abuse and addiction.
Matthew Perry Regrets Insulting Keanu Reeves
Actor Matthew Perry misspoke about the reputed actor Keanu Reeves in his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. He spoke about Keanu Reeves’s friend and co-actor River Phoenix, and the legendary Heath Ledger, and how they ended up losing their life due to their drug addiction. The statement in the actor’s book caused a stir on social media and multiple celebrities even tweeted in favour of the John Wick Actor. The actor had mentioned-
“River was a beautiful man, inside and out — too beautiful for this world, it turned out. It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down. Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”
During the LA Times Festival of Books, Matthew Perry regretted the much-publicized Keanu Reeves’ mention in his autobiography. The actor said-
“I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do, I pulled his name because I live on the same street. I’ve apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it.”
He added-
“If I run into the guy, I’ll apologize. It was just stupid,“
The FRIENDS actor candidly spoke about what led to the biography coming into existence. He said-
“I was on a road trip from Florida to Los Angeles, sitting in the back of a car, and I started writing. After three days, I thought, ‘I’m done, I’m an author!’”
Matthew Perry mentioned-
“It came pouring out of me — the painful stuff, hospitals, rehabs, all of this stuff — it poured out of me. It went really quickly.”
The Emmy Award winner had a tough time as a child because his parents separated when he was only 1. His childhood was spent moving from his mother’s place in Montreal to his father’s place in Los Angeles. He was exposed to Phenobarbital for colic issues early in his life, as it was prescribed by a doctor. And he soon began to self medicate.
While talking about therapy, he said-
“I’ve been in therapy since I was 18 years old. I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t the kind of book where I blame people for the things they did wrong. You have to give them credit for the things they did right.”
Despite his struggles with substance abuse, Matthew Perry is one of the most popular faces in Hollywood.
Why Matthew Perry Refuses To Watch FRIENDS?
Many famous celebrities hardly watch their own work, and one of them is Matthew Perry. Coincidentally, another such actor is Keanu Reeves. On the screen, Perry was the undisputed king of sarcasm, but offscreen he was just a guy struggling with the patterns of substance abuse.
During an interview with CBC, he mentioned the reason behind never watching the sitcom that made him famous. The actor said-
“I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 lbs, I was on FRIENDS getting watched by 30 million people — and that’s why I can’t watch the show, ’cause I was brutally thin.”
The show takes him back to one of the lowest phase in his life. Based on his look at every episode, Matthew Perry clearly remembered how much he was struggling with his addiction. He said-
“I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, ‘drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine.’ I could tell season by season by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it because that’s what I see.”
On talking about the popularity of the show, he went on to say-
“I think I’m gonna start to watch it, because it really has been an incredible thing to watch it touch the hearts of different generations. It’s become this important, significant thing. It was really funny and all the people were nice. I’ve been too worried about this, and I wanna watch FRIENDS too.”
Mathew Perry wants to be remembered as a guy who had lived life, loved well, lived well, and helped people.
Source: Los Angeles Times
