Matthew Perry 1969-2023

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#61
The cast of Friends made a mark on the TV world by handling everything as group. After years of sitcoms with reports of rivalries among cast members and controversies when one co-star was paid a great deal more than others, they overcame all of that by negotiating their salaries as a cast, demanding they all get paid the same amount. That was the start of their "all for one, one for all" mindset, and they've stuck to it. So I think it fits that they'd choose to issue a statement in the same way they did everything public for the show. It also makes sense to me that they'd say it the way they did. It can be torture for some to have to share their feelings with the public after a loss, and it makes sense they may not all be ready for it. Their statement protects anyone in the group who isn't ready to grieve publicly quite yet. It helps the phone to stop ringing, which is sometimes needed early in the grief process
 
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#62
I think their joint statement fits their MO - they negotiated (at that time) the record breaking per episode salary of 1 mil/episode by sticking together.

And a joint statement makes sense in that no one can compare their individual statements and say one was warmer, one was more detached, one felt more heartfelt etc.

ETA: As for his instagram posts, apparently it was tied in to something he was working on. I like to think back to that Friends episode where he got 007's suit and Ross got Batman's (Val Kilmer's) and he spent several minutes trying to convince Monica that the Batman suit was better.
 
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#63
I thought the cast joint statement was perfect...perfect that it was from all of them together and perfect that it centered him. I imagine they are in shock and, as they said, devastated. I was so impressed that they stayed together as a team during the show. I believe their grief is deep and real.

In terms of his book, what bravery it took to show the ugly awful side of addition. How amazing that he was so raw and honest about all the parts of him.

I pray the years of abuse simply caught up with his body and that he was at peace at the end.

 
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#67
Check out his Instagram, mattyperry4

Seems like he was trying to ask for help but no-one understood it or reached out to him. Apparently he says in his book several times that when he feels down and needs to ask for help he will call himself Mattman and that if he was ever in danger he will send the bat signal. I haven't checked all posts but at least the posts from the past two weeks are cryptic ones that all mention Mattman/Batman in some way.

I fear this was no accident. Maybe he had planned it, maybe not. At first I thought it was perhaps a cardiac arrest after physical activity since ex-addicts can have damage to their heart but now I am not sure. Some of the things seem to point to relapsing, feeling alone and wanting to end it all.

Edit: The last nine posts are all posted within two weeks before his death. The last seven all refer to Batman and are very strange. Fourth last post is him saying what he had to eat that day and there's a hand placing cranberries on the table (a reference to how Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan died perhaps..?), the third last one is about Halloween approaching. The last two posts posted five days before his death on the 23rd and are about waiting for the full moon (which was on 28th/29th October) and him sitting in his jacuzzi. Then he dies on the 28th. Coincidence..?

Screenshot 2023-10-31 at 16.18.55.png
 
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#68
pomeline said:
Apparently he says in his book several times that when he feels down and needs to ask for help he will call himself Mattman and that if he was ever in danger he will send the bat signal.
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That's not what his friends say - multiple sources say it came from something he was working on. Also the only quote i know from the book regarding Batman is his final sentence in it - “Someday you, too, might be called upon to do something important, so be ready for it,” the final sentence of the book reads. “And when whatever happens, just think, What would Batman do? and do that.”
pomeline said:
I fear this was no accident. Maybe he had planned it, maybe not.
Click to expand...

Can we please not speculate about COD and things that not even the media has stooped low enough to speculate about?

^ This always also happens in True Crime circuits and it just feels disrespectful to the people who actual loved them.
 
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#69
eunaddict said:
That's not what his friends say - multiple sources say it came from something he was working on. Also the only quote i know from the book regarding Batman is his final sentence in it - “Someday you, too, might be called upon to do something important, so be ready for it,” the final sentence of the book reads. “And when whatever happens, just think, What would Batman do? and do that.”


Can we please not speculate about COD and things that not even the media has stooped low enough to speculate about?

^ This always also happens in True Crime circuits and it just feels disrespectful to the people who actual loved them.
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Thank you for saying this. Several years ago, I had a family friend who was the victim of a murder-suicide. it shocked the community we live in, and left a lot of people talking. There were a few instances after it happened that i was in social environments where the victim's family would be mentioned, leading to a lot of questions. I watched those questions shift from looking for ways to help the family to looking for ways to hear the latest gossip, and it made me very uncomfortable. I saw how some of those talking about it were not hurting in the same ways that I was along with the victim's family and other friends. Some of those discussions seemed to lose sight of the fact that it wasn't just a story - it was a person who was lost. Like you said, I see a lot of the same thing in a lot of true crime talk.
I understand the reasons why people search for answers. So many of Matthew Perry's fans were around his age - so many of us got hooked on Friends when it first premiered because we saw ourselves in the lives of those characters. To see someone at his age die makes us start to realize that it could happen to us, or others we love. To keep those thought away, we look for explanations that can also assure us we're safe.
In time, we'll get answers. It's hard to be patient and wait for those answers - but it's the best way in my book to show respect to those who are most deeply grieving Matthew's death. They're not helped by the speculation. Also worth noting that in time, they may take steps to seal records an limit public intrusion to the story. If they do, it will be so that they don't have to face it coming up constantly for the rest of their lives - not necessarily because of anything sinister they want to hide. It's their right if they do it.
 
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#70
It was just a theory as those posts were strange but I won't speculate further then. It was not my intention to upset people. I'm sorry for playing a kitchen detective, cannot help my nature of speculating things and theorising this and that (has to do with my real life profession) and I forget most people would rather not. I'm glad if there's a more simple explanation for the posts he made.
 
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#72
eunaddict said:
I think their joint statement fits their MO - they negotiated (at that time) the record breaking per episode salary of 1 mil/episode by sticking together.

And a joint statement makes sense in that no one can compare their individual statements and say one was warmer, one was more detached, one felt more heartfelt etc.

ETA: As for his instagram posts, apparently it was tied in to something he was working on. I like to think back to that Friends episode where he got 007's suit and Ross got Batman's (Val Kilmer's) and he spent several minutes trying to convince Monica that the Batman suit was better.
Click to expand...
I hadn’t seen the other members of the cast had issued a joint statement. I’ve been looking out for it
 
#73
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