Matthew Perry's Sister Recounts Actor's Struggles and Peace in New Documentary

Matthew Perry was "fighting for his life" during the filming of the 2021 Friends reunion, according to his sister, Mia Perry Bowick. In the new Netflix documentary series The One About Matthew Perry, Bowick shares a series of heartbreaking details about the late actor's lifelong struggle with addiction and his death in 2023 at age 54.

The three-episode docuseries, directed by Mary Robertson, chronicles Perry's career, his rise to fame on Friends, and his battles with substance abuse. While the series does not include interviews with major figures from Friends (apart from former NBC president Warren Littlefield and former Friends writer Jeff Strauss), it features an extensive interview with Bowick, Perry's half-sister.

Bowick, a licensed psychotherapist, was Perry's healthcare proxy in his final years, tasked with making critical decisions on his behalf, including during a 2018 opioid overdose that led to a two-week coma and months in the hospital.

'Fighting for His Life' During Reunion During the filming of Friends: The Reunion, released in 2021, Perry's struggles were apparent to fans and confirmed by his sister. "After he filmed it, I know he felt really tired," Bowick said in the documentary. "He was kind of at this place of, ‘How am I going to keep going?’ I know he was really scared. I know he was really fighting for his life. I know that a lot of parts of him did not think it was possible for him to live a sober life."

Kevin Pollak, a longtime friend and co-star, noted Perry's visible struggle during the reunion, stating, "The Friends reunion is tough to watch, because he’s just not himself."

Cast's Respect at Funeral Perry's sister described being deeply moved when all five of his Friends castmates attended his small, private funeral in 2023. "I hadn’t seen them in easily 20 years," Bowick recalled tearfully. "Jen Aniston was the first one of them to come up to me and give me a huge hug. But they all did. And then all five of them walked up to the casket holding hands and stood around him crying."

Peace and Success Before Death In the months leading up to his death, Bowick stated that Perry was "the happiest we’d ever seen him." This period of contentment followed the significant success of his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, and the extensive press tour he undertook in early 2023.

"His book was such an instant success. He was just really, really, really excited about that, and really proud of that," Bowick said. His close friend David Pressman corroborated this, recalling Perry frequently mentioning the book's massive success.

Bowick found solace in his declarations of happiness and peace. "I still find of solace in the fact that he was happy, he said he was happy, he said he was at peace."

Struggles with Rehabilitation Perry's battle with addiction involved numerous attempts at sobriety. He reportedly underwent 15 stints in rehabilitation throughout his life, with one stay in 2001 causing a production pause on Friends Season 8. According to Bowick, Perry spent approximately $7 million over his lifetime trying to achieve sobriety, a figure he himself estimated closer to $9 million in interviews promoting his memoir.

Ketamine Treatment and Its Dangers While Perry's autopsy revealed a lethal dose of ketamine as the cause of his drowning death, the documentary explores his perspective on the drug. Perry had been undergoing ketamine treatments at a clinic and believed it was helping him, describing experiences of feeling spiritual awakenings and seeing "God" during treatment.

However, his sister was unaware that he was also receiving unmonitored ketamine doses at home, administered by his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. Iwamasa was later sentenced to prison in connection with Perry's death. "The level of betrayal we all felt," Bowick stated, expressing her sense of being deeply duped by Iwamasa's actions.