ran out of time for him. "nightline" is next. thank you for watching, goodnight. ♪ tonight, remembering matthew perry, the friend we all loved. delighting generations for fans as chandler bing on the iconic series "friends." >> i'm chandler. i make jokes when i'm uncomfortable. >> what we're learning about his sudden and tragic death. >> requesting two additional units and a supervisor respond to sail drive. >> how he wanted to be remembered for helping others battling addiction. >> when i die, i don't want "friends" to be the first thing that's mentioned. i want that to be the first thing that's mentioned.

>> plus, the agony behind the laughter. >> should have been the toast of the town. i was in a darkroom meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone. >> his castmate jennifer aniston expressing her concern. >> we weren't equipped. we weren't to deal with it. >> but perry turning darkness into light. >> i've got to help as many people as i can. >> memorials from new york to los angeles, and what his "friends" castmates are saying about his death. this special edition of "nightline," "remembering matthew perry" will be right back. ( ♪ ) feel the power of osteo bi-flex®. taken every day, it's clinically shown to improve joint comfort in 7 days, with significant improvement over time. ( ♪ ) [stomach growling] it's nothing... sounds like something.

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♪ good evening, and thank you for joining us. i'm stephanie ramos. we begin with the loss of a friend, the shocking and tragic death of actor and author matthew perry. the investigation into his death and what we're learning about his final hours and his devastated co-stars on "friends" breaking their silence. what they're saying about the actor's death. abc's chris connelly has more. >> i'm chandler. i make jokes when i'm uncomfortable. >> well, i loved chandler. i love the show, and i also knew -- remember this, because

it's going to be the best time of your life. and i knew it. >> reporter: one look at the hit tv series "friends," and it's impossible to imagine anyone in the role of chandler bing. >> okay. who wants light cheese and who wants dark cheese? >> other than the handsome, hilarious and quick-witted matthew perry, cast when he was just 24. >> someone at work ate my sandwich. >> what did the police say? >> reporter: sarcastic, charming, and oh that comic timing. ♪ for ten seasons on "fr for multiple generations of viewers, perry could make it all look so easy. but for him, for decades nothing was easy. >> how will we know when you're in trouble, if you're not okay? >> if i say i'm just going to chill alone at home tonight. and part two, the other thing is

if i ever say i'm cured. >> reporter: saturday afternoon, perry was found dead at his home in pacific palisades, california. law enforcement sources say his assistant discovered the 54-year-old unresponsive in his jacuzzi. >> requesting two additional units and a supervisor respond to blue sail drive. >> reporter: the official cause of death is still under investigation. abc news confirms an autopsy has been completed by the l.a. county medical examiner's office, but results on a subsequent toxicology report could take weeks. police say there was no obvious signs of trauma or foul play suspected. just days ago, perry posting this photo of himself in his hot tub, wearing headphones. tmz reported witnesses saw perry in good spirits saturday while playing pickleball for two hours at a nearby club. matthew perry's family telling "people" magazine in a statement we are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our son and brother. matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and

a friend. and today the cast of "friends" joining together to release a statement, "we are all so utterly devastated by the loss of matthew. we were more than just castmates. we are a family. our thoughts and our love are with matty's family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world." since the tragic loss, heartbroken fans have flocked to the street coroner new york city's west village, where the exterior was used for the "friends" apartment in the show. >> he deserves a tribute from everyone. >> "friends" meant a lot to everybody. it's still very iconic now. >> his character is unlike any other tv character ever, especially his sense of humor. and i'm really going to miss him. >> reporter: "friends" who knew him well and worked alongside him posting on social media, remembering the actor. familiar face on the hit show maggie wheeland. >> oh my god. >> reporter: who played janice as chandler's on and off girlfriend on the show. >> hey, it's janice!

>> reporter: posting "what a loss. the world will miss you, matthew perry. i feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared." "he was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with," said gwyneth paltrow. the two met in their early 20s. we drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in a local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass. it was a magical summer. i hope matthew is at peace at long last. i really do. adele pausing her vegas concert to pay tribute. >> and i'm here to say how much i love what he meant to all of us. >> reporter: and charlie puth playing the "friends" theme song "i'll be there for you ♪ ♪ i'll be there for you when the rain starts to fall clothes. >> reporter: after moving to los angeles from canada, he'd find roles as a young actor on such hit shows as "growing pains". >> i am so sorry this happened to you. >> carol, don't worry, i'm going to be okay. >> reporter: and beverly hills

90210". >> just make sure to spell my name right. >> reporter: before his big break on "friends" in 1994. >> is your name chandler? >> yes, yes, it is. >> chandler bing? >> do you know me or are you really good at this game? >> reporter: it turned out to be a role of a lifetime, one he almost wasn't able to take. he was committed to another tv show at the time called "l.a.x." about baggage handlers set at the airport in the future. >> enjoy los angeles. griffith park is the best picnic areas. >> reporter: he'd find success on the big screen with "the whole nine yards." but as perry knew, it's his emmy nominated performance in "friends" that would leave the most memorable mark. >> how is that me? >> okay. >> i'm chandler, waaa! >> that is so you! >> reporter: the '90s and early oos, friends dominated

prime-time tv, a top ten show on nbc every year for its ten-year run, averaging 25 million viewers a week. >> when have i ever done that? >> when have i ever done that? roorrr. >>. >> reporter: the cast reviewed themselves as an ensemble and negotiate as a unit, giving them the leverage to set a new standard. >> i think bigger than the entertainment value, this cast really taught the rest of the industry a colossal lesson. they knew their worth. they did an unprecedented deal for the last three seasons of "friends." they each collected a million dollars salary per episode, which at that point had been completely unheard of in this industry. >> reporter: years later, its enduring appeal made it a major force in the streaming wars. during the pandemic, a surge of comfort food hit is hitting the air. 98 billion watched in 2020 alone. >> the beauty of "friends" is it still works.

and then there the people who recently discovered it and it still is going. ♪ >> reporter: the cast reuniting on screen for a 2021 special reminiscing about their days in the spotlight. things they alone had shared and understood. >> the best way that i can describe it is after the show is over at party or any kind of social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other, that was it. that was the end of the night. we just -- >> sat with that person. >> sat with the person. >> uh-huh. >> all night long. >> reporter: but behind the scenes, addiction to alcohol and later prescription pain kill worries fling perry into a decades' long hellscape, leading to extreme fluctuations in his weight and countless months in rehab. he said he went through detox roughly 65 times. >> i should have been the toast of the town. i was in a darkroom meeting nothing but drug dealers and completely alone.

for months. >> reporter: perry sat down with diane sawyer last year, opening up about his addiction in his best-selling memoir, "friends, lovers, and the big terrible thing." >> it's not fun to talk about this stuff. i dent like talking about it, but i know it's going to help people to talk about it. i know the book is going to help people. >> reporter: castmates coming to his aid during dark times, like jennifer aniston. >> jenny, yeah. >> and she says we know you're drinking. >> yeah. imagine how scary a moment that was. and i said how? i thought i was hiding it so well. and she said we can smell it. we can smell it. but i wasn't in a position to stop. you know? and that's what addiction is. >> our thanks to chris. coming up, matthew perry turned darkness into light and

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♪ "i'll be there for you" is the name of the famous theme song from "friends." and that's just what matthew perry wanted to do for so many struggling with addiction, sharing his pain and making it his mission to help others. for so much of matthew perry's life, going back to childhood, making people laugh was what mattered, and he was very good at doing just that. >> when was 1990?

>> okay, you to stop the q-tip when there is resistance. >> reporter: as the beloved chandler bing on the hit nbc show "friends" -- >> i went to that tanning place your wife suggested. was that place the sun? >> but it was perry's vicious battle with alcohol and drug addiction that would define him and inspire him to help others. perry opened up about his struggles back in 2003. his "friends" co-stars surrounding him on oprah as he spoke about the moment he sought help. the studio audience moved by his admission. >> you know, it actually has very little to do with courage at first. it's really a -- it's kind of a life or death situation. you ultimately kind of i guess the key word is surrender, and you realize that you need help. so you finally ask for it, and you realize the matthew perry plan sucks.

>> the following year, an emotional jennifer aniston later talked about her concern for perry. >> we weren't equipped, we weren't -- to deal with it, you know. nobody had ever dealt with that. and, you know, the idea of even losing him. >> but he is all right. >> years later, perry would become an outspoken champion for people struggling with addiction. in 2013, he appeared on the bbc's "news night" where he spoke courageously about the disease. >> i'm a drug addict. i'm a person if i have a drink, i can't stop. >> reporter: but it was almost exactly a year ago in 2022 perry bared it all, opening up about the horror lurking behind that famous smile, announcing what would become his best-selling memoir. >> hi, everyone. today is the day my memoir,

"friends, lovers and the big terrible thing" is finally out in the world. >> speaking about the ravages of the addiction he suffered at the height of his feign to diane sawyer. >> some reason, it's obviously because i was on "friends," more people will listen to me. so i've got to take advantage of that. i've got to help as many people as i can. >> you start with a thunder clap the first page. "hi, my name is matthew, although you may know me by another name. my friends call me matty, and i should be dead." >> yeah. that's definitely true. >> he traced the origins of his alcohol addiction to his teen years in canada. >> i had never drank before, and i was just sort of drank this entire bottle of what was called anwar's baby duck. that was the name of the wine. and i lay in the grass and just was in heaven. and i thought that at 14. >> i was doing fine this

afternoon. >> reporter: then in 1997, a jet ski accident while filming the movie "fools rush in" led a doctor to prescribe him the painkiller vicodin. it would be the beginning of a downward spiral, taking more and more pills to stave off withdrawal. >> 55 vicodin a day, which were i was. >> 55? >> yeah. >> how did you get 55 a day? >> well, i had to wake up and realize that i needed to get 55 of them or i was going to be really sick. so i did all sorts of things. a bunch of doctors, fake migraines and all that stuff. and i guess the weirdest thing i did is on sundayed, i would go to open houses and go to the bathrooms in the open house and see what pills they had in there and steal them. and i think they thought there is no way that chandler came in and stole from us.

>> more than two decades, countless months in rehab, days and nights clinging to life in the hospital, multiple surgeries due to a burst colon brought on by his opioid addiction. >> they ran me into the emergency trauma room. i was put on an ecmo machine. and an ecmo machine, when you talk to any doctor, is a hail mary. it is the last thing that you do before people die. and there were five people that night that were put on ecmo machine, and i was the only one who survived. >> you say "addiction, the big terrible thing is far too powerful for anyone to defeat alone, but together one day at time, we can beat it down." >> yeah. your disease is outside doing one-arm push-ups, just waiting for you, waiting to get you alone, because alone you lose to

the disease. and now i finally feel okay. i feel like i've got some strength. >> i feel like people who have allowed soapbox, megaphones, that they have an opportunity to speak honestly about their problem. >> perry made sure that others wouldn't have to go through it alone either. he established a sober house, the perry house. one of his former residences. long time friend hank azaria mourned perry and thanked him for his friendship on instagram. >> the night i went into aa, matthew brought me in. the whole first year i was sober, which went to meetings together. as a sober person, he was so caring and giving and wise, and he totally helped me get sober. >> none of us are perfect people. he certainly was not a perfect person. he certainly was not a perfect recoverer. but i admire the courage to put himself out there that way. because i do think that

ultimately that helps people. >> while millions around the world will remember him as the quick-witted chandler bing -- >> payback! >> shut up, shut up, shut up! >> as he told ultimately hoped to leave behind a different legacy. >> the best thing about me, bar none, is if somebody comes up to me, i can't stop drinking, can you help me? i can say yes and follow up and do it. that's the best thing. [ applause ] and i've said this for a long time. when i die, i don't want "friends" to be the first thing that's mentioned. i want that to be the first thing that's mentioned. and i'm going live the rest of my life proving that. >> coming up, matthew perry. why helping others was so important to him. - while serving in iraq, our vehicle was hit and it was bad. back home, i had to learn to live with the scars

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♪ that's "nightline" this evening. thank you for watching. we leave you tonight with matthew perry in his own words. >> i would like to be remembered

as somebody who lived well, loved well, was a his paramount thing is he wants to help people. that's what i want. [ applause ] but i think i'm saying that too much, but it's true.