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.
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Five Key Takeaways in Matthew Perry Documentary
1. Perry Spent Millions Pursuing Sobriety
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.
2. Perry's Family Knew What Was Happening Behind Chandler and Monica's Wedding
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.
3. Those Closest to Him Struggled To Watch the 'Friends' Reunion
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. In 2018, he nearly died after his colon ruptured and he spent two weeks in a coma, part of the long health battle he later discussed publicly.
4. He Gave a Struggling Friend a Place To Live
The series also focuses on Perry's efforts to help other people experiencing addiction. Tim Harrington, who Perry met through recovery in 2001, recalls reaching a point where he feared he would have to live in his car.
Perry instead told him to collect his belongings and move into his home. The two lived together for roughly a year and attended recovery meetings together, with Harrington crediting that intervention with saving his life.
Perry's public work around addiction included advocating for people struggling with substance use and establishing sober-living facilities, while friends interviewed for the documentary portray helping others in recovery as an important part of his private life as well.
5. His 'Friends' Co-Stars Approached His Casket Together
Among the documentary's most intimate revelations is Bowick's account of her brother's private funeral. She says Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer arrived together, and Aniston was the first to embrace her.
Then, according to Bowick, all five co-stars approached Perry's casket, held hands, and stood around it crying.
Bowick also recalls an unexpectedly funny moment amid her grief. As they moved Perry into a mausoleum, she says she suddenly felt her brother's presence and imagined him making an irreverent observation about what was happening, which made her laugh.
When Did Matthew Perry Die?
Perry died on October 28, 2023, at age 54. He was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles and was pronounced dead after paramedics arrived.
According to the detailed timeline supplied by The Associated Press, Perry received three ketamine injections on the day he died. His assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, told investigators that the third was administered at about 1:30 p.m. before he left the home to run errands; when he returned at about 4 p.m., he found Perry face down in the Jacuzzi.
The weeks preceding his death later became the focus of a federal criminal case. Prosecutors said Perry had been receiving legitimate ketamine treatment for depression but sought additional supplies outside that treatment, ultimately obtaining the drug through people including physician Salvador Plasencia, middleman Erik Fleming and dealer Jasveen Sangha.
Who Was Interviewed for Netflix Doc?
Bowick is one of the documentary's central voices, speaking publicly about her brother in a way she hadn't in the three years since his death. Robertson said Bowick wanted audiences to see her brother not simply as Chandler Bing or a celebrity but as a brother, friend and person who devoted significant energy to trying to recover from addiction and help others.
The documentary also features people who knew Perry at different periods of his life. They include Harrington, Pollak, longtime friend David Pressman and Jeff Strauss, a writer and producer from the first season of Friends. Several of Perry's former girlfriends also participated, along with friends from his early years as he tried to establish himself as an actor in Los Angeles.
Notably absent are Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc and Schwimmer. Robertson confirmed that the five surviving Friends leads were invited but declined. She said she understood the choice, noting that people handle grief differently. Perry's stepfather, Keith Morrison, and other family members also declined to participate.
What Was Matthew Perry's Cause of Death?
The Los Angeles County medical examiner determined that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine listed as contributing factors. His death was ruled an accident.
The subsequent federal investigation established a much more detailed picture of the drugs Perry was receiving shortly before his death. Prosecutors said that although he had been undergoing ketamine treatment for depression, he began pursuing additional supplies in September 2023. Iwamasa learned to inject the drug and eventually administered it without medical supervision, while Perry obtained ketamine through multiple sources.
Five defendants were ultimately prosecuted in connection with the ketamine supply chain. They were Iwamasa, Fleming, doctors Plasencia and Mark Chavez, and Sangha.
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When Did Perry Go to Rehab?
Perry's experiences with treatment spanned years rather than a single stay. He entered rehabilitation more than a dozen times over the course of his life, including while Friends was still in production. His struggles with alcohol and prescription drugs became a central subject of his memoir and now form a substantial part of The One About Matthew Perry.
One of the most striking overlaps between his treatment and his career came around Chandler and Monica's wedding at the end of the show's seventh season. Bowick says Perry had just come out of treatment during that period, while Perry later wrote that after filming the wedding episode he was driven back to a treatment facility by a sober companion.
The documentary adds his family's perspective to a history Perry had already told in his own words. Bowick's account emphasizes not only his repeated relapses but how persistently he pursued recovery, including the millions of dollars he spent on treatment.
Matthew Perry Funeral: What We Know Happened
Perry's family held a private funeral for close friends after his October 2023 death. His five Friends co-stars attended, and Bowick's new account offers one of the clearest descriptions yet of how they said goodbye.
Perry was laid to rest at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. His crypt bears a bronze plaque reading "Much Loved Friend," linking his burial place to the television series that made him internationally famous.
How to Watch The One About Matthew Perry on Netflix
The One About Matthew Perry premieres on Netflix on October 27. Viewers will need a Netflix subscription to stream the three-part documentary series.
In the U.S., Netflix currently offers three subscription plans. Standard with ads costs $8.99 per month, Standard costs $19.99 per month and Premium costs $26.99 per month. Netflix bills memberships monthly and does not offer annual plans.
The $8.99 plan supports two devices at the same time and streams in up to 1080p. The $19.99 Standard tier is ad-free and also supports two simultaneous devices in 1080p, while the $26.99 Premium option lets four devices watch simultaneously and offers 4K and HDR.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kate Nalepinski and Tony Phillips.