A new Netflix documentary about Matthew Perry is revealing intimate details about the Friends star's addiction, relationships and funeral nearly three years after his death. The three-part series, The One About Matthew Perry, shifts the story beyond the circumstances of his fatal ketamine overdose, allowing the people closest to him to describe the private struggles and acts of generosity that existed alongside his fame. Perry's sister, Mia Perry Bowick, and longtime friends recount little-known moments from his life, although his five Friends co-stars declined to participate.
Directed by Mary Robertson, the series premieres October 27, one day before the third anniversary of Perry's death. Robertson said she became interested in telling his story after reading his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, and later established a relationship with Bowick, who is speaking publicly at length about her brother for the documentary. One of the documentary's starkest details is the financial scale of Perry's recovery efforts.
Bowick says her brother spent more than $7 million pursuing sobriety, describing the figure as evidence of how seriously he regarded his addiction. Robertson said Perry's father, John Bennett Perry, saw his son as a fighter because he tried so persistently to recover. A discrepancy is worth noting: coverage of Perry's 2022 memoir says he spent more than $9 million on rehab, while the new documentary gives the figure as more than $7 million.
For millions of Friends viewers, Chandler Bing's wedding to Monica Geller was the culmination of one of the sitcom's defining romances. For Perry's family, however, watching the milestone came with knowledge of what the actor was experiencing away from the cameras. Bowick said her brother had just left treatment after his drug and alcohol use worsened during the years leading up to the episode.
She recalled that the family understood how serious his addiction had become and did not know what the future held for him. Perry himself wrote that he was in treatment while the wedding episode was being made and returned to the treatment center after filming. The 2021 Friends reunion was marketed as a nostalgic return for the show's six stars, but some people close to Perry experienced it very differently.
Bowick says in the documentary that what he endured had badly diminished her brother's energy and that he was exhausted after filming. Actor and comedian Kevin Pollak recalled Perry struggling on camera, while Pressman declined to elaborate on his memories of the reunion, saying it spoke for itself. The reunion came several years after Perry experienced a major health crisis.
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