1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:11,360 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a 2 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: story about Matthew Perry, one of the most beloved television 3 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: actors of all time, from one of the most celebrated 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,759 Speaker 1: television shows of all time, Friends. But this is also 5 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: a story about addiction and purpose, about million dollar paydays 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: every week and about nine million dollars spent on fighting 7 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: an addiction. It's about comas and colostomy bags, and beautiful 8 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: movie stars and fax machines, crooked doctors, and ketamine queens. 9 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: It's a story about a man who loved the spotlight 10 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: like a singer loves a great song or great music. 11 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: Unlike that music. I've played few at the top of 12 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: the show that wasn't great music. That was a preset 13 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: loop from my melotron called Unskinny Tata one. I played 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: you that loop because I can't afford the rights to 15 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: I'll Make Love to You by Boys to Men. And 16 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice. 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 2: Of number one cheese? Could I afford it? 18 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 19 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: September twenty two, nineteen ninety four, and that was the 20 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: day that Friends aired on national television. Changing Matthew Perry's 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:36,039 Speaker 1: life Forever On this episode Addiction, Purpose, Fame, Fax, Machines, 22 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: Akedemy and Queen, and Matthew Perry. I'm Jake Brennan in. 23 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 2: This this Disgraceland. 24 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: There is a weight to silence. 25 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 2: It's heavy. 26 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: Children in the house mean silence is hard to come by, 27 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: and most parents will tell you that, despite the aggravation, 28 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: that lack of silence gives them purpose. Someone once said 29 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: that being a parent with multiple small children is like 30 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 1: living amongst endless brushfires, constantly springing to life. 31 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:42,639 Speaker 2: It's a game of whack a mole. 32 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: One fire bursts a light, you put it out, and 33 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,959 Speaker 1: before you know it, another one springs up. Your job 34 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: is to not let them get out of control, and 35 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: conversely to cultivate them when needed. But without that energy, 36 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: there is only silence. And if you've got a longing 37 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: in your heart, or an aversion to confronting parts of 38 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 1: you that you'd rather not acknowledge, the nasty bits your insecurities, 39 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: the silence blocks out all logical thought. It sits on you. 40 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: It's so heavy you can feel your chest start to cave. 41 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: For Matthew Perry, the silence squeezed him tight until the 42 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: pressure exploded into a million fragmented, intrusive thoughts, thoughts that 43 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: then reconstituted back into a massive and amorphous fear. Fear 44 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: that hit hardest at night, just before the hard to 45 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: obtain sleep, right during the edge of consciousness, just as 46 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: Matthew was about to drift off, his fear would pierce 47 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: the silence and speak to him, sometimes literally, they'll. 48 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 2: Never love you, they always. 49 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: Leave, And sometimes it spoke to him figuratively. The sound 50 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: of coyotes tearing apart their prey in the distant Hollywood 51 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: Hills made it inevitable that Matthew Perry wouldn't fall asleep 52 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: anytime soon. He'd do anything to end this horrific sound. 53 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: But then what then It was just more silence, and 54 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: the silence for him was even scarier. Matthew thought about 55 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 1: the vicodin on his nightstand, and then he thought about 56 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: the vodka in his freezer. Then, in a manner of 57 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: speaking currently influencing the way America spoke, Matthew Perry heard 58 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: the voice of the character he brought to life on 59 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: television weekly for millions of people, Chandler Bing. Chandler could 60 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: always say what Matthew couldn't and Matthew smiled in relief 61 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: when he heard Chandler break through the fear in his 62 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: head with that trademark cadence and whip smart wit to say, 63 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why they invent did 64 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: drugs and alcohol. All your friends smoke newports. It's a drag. 65 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: The menthol smell is gross. You need twin blasts of 66 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,119 Speaker 1: banaka and glade that you keep in your glove box 67 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: before walking into your kitchen, otherwise your parents will catch wind. 68 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 1: And an argument over the friends you're stuck hanging out 69 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 1: with will prevent you from watching the friends you want 70 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: to hang out with Monica. 71 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 2: Joey, Phoebe, Rachel. 72 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:38,720 Speaker 1: Ross, and Chandler on television. It's Thursday night, nineteen ninety six, 73 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: a school night, eight pm. You got to be home 74 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: by now anyway. Otherwise it wasn't just an argument over 75 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: your friends. It was an argument over your car privileges. 76 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: But you don't mind. Friends is your favorite show. It's 77 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: much better than Seinfelder, So you think, what's with that 78 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: dude's style anyway? Tight jeans and turtlenecks, nap You prefer friends. 79 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:08,799 Speaker 1: Life at Central Perk seems lighter than life at Monk's Cafe. Plus, 80 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: Joey and Chandler and Ross are hot, and Rachel and 81 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,720 Speaker 1: Monica and Phoebe always look perfect. Your mom even cut 82 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: her hair like Monica's. But you and nearly everyone else 83 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,360 Speaker 1: you know with any sense of style cut your hair 84 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: like Rachel's. Your dad didn't catch the reference. He doesn't 85 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: care for the show, or so he says. He just 86 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: sits in his lazy boy reading the nightly edition of 87 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:34,119 Speaker 1: the local newspaper while you and your mom watch, though 88 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: occasionally you'll hear your dad grunt and approval. Whatever Joey 89 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: lays out his signature, you doing, Ross is about to mess. 90 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 2: Up big time. 91 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: He's way too jealous of Rachel's coworker at Blooming Nails. 92 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 2: Blooming Nails. 93 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: God, a job like that at the mall, can you 94 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: imagine to die for? You're stuck working at tcby serving 95 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: the so called country's best yogurt to health conscious housewives 96 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: and board stoner's from your school. 97 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 2: Stoner's love frozen. 98 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: Yogurt, but you hate it mainly because serving it only 99 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: pays five bucks an hour, which is likely close to 100 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: what Phoebe makes as a masseuse. 101 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 2: Though she gets tips. 102 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: Out of the characters on Friends afford those great Manhattan apartments. 103 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: Your guess is that Monica type A and properly employed 104 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: as a chef, likely covers most of the rent for 105 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: hers and Rachel's apartment, and that Ross, of course does 106 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: alright as a palaeontologist. Joey is an underemployed actor, so 107 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: it's likely Chandler takes care of his and Joey's rent 108 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: as a transponster or whatever it is that Chandler does 109 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: for a living. You wonder if Chandler's job is supposed 110 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: to be taking a toll on him this season. 111 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 2: He's lost a lot of weight. 112 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: You like skinny guys, though, Patrick Swayze and Dirty Dancing 113 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: Johnny Depp and cry Baby. 114 00:07:58,960 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 2: Those guys are. 115 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: Skinny, gorgeous, But Chandler seems so skinny now that you 116 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: get the vibe that something's wrong, that he hasn't just 117 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: traded the Ben and Jerry's for the tcby no Chandler 118 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: bing or the actor that plays him. Rather, Matthew Perry 119 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: looks ill. Starring on Friends was all Matthew Perry ever wanted. Well. 120 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: Being famous was actually all Matthew Perry ever wanted, but 121 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: starring on Friends was how Matthew Perry was going to 122 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: become famous. Acting out characters on doomed scripts for pilot 123 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: season every year juiced Matthew's bank account enough to keep 124 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: the drinks flowing down at the Foremosa Cafe in West 125 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: Hollywood with his buddies, fellow funny men Hank Azaria and 126 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: Craig Burko. But fame was not yet a reality, and 127 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: Matthew needed to make it a reality. He didn't fully 128 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: understand it at the time, back in those pre fame, 129 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: pre Friends days in the early nineties, but Matthew Perry 130 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: needed fame like a junkie needs a fix, like an 131 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: alcoholic needs a drink. He tasted it briefly acting alongside 132 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 1: River Phoenix in the excellent film A Night in the 133 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: Life of Jimmy Reardon, and got brief snapshots of it 134 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: from the various sitcom appearances he made in Growing Pains 135 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: and in Beverly Hills nine O two one zero. The truth, though, 136 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: is that Matthew had been catching the dopamine rush of 137 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 1: adulation every time he'd entered a room since he was 138 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: fourteen years old. Being the son of an actor, the 139 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,959 Speaker 1: Old Spice Man himself, John Bennett Perry, and a famous 140 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: Canadian political pro Suzanne Langford Morrison, press secretary to Canadian 141 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Matthew needed hum or to stand 142 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: out amongst his two charismatic and recognizable parents. 143 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 2: It worked. 144 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: People noticed Matthew, everyone but his parents anyway, or so 145 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: we thought. Their divorce at an early age scarred him. 146 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,479 Speaker 1: It left him marked by an unshakable sense of abandonment 147 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: that he used humor to fight it off, to draw 148 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: people into him, to disarm people socially, and to distract 149 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: everyone around him from what he thought were his obvious 150 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: personality flaws. Like every great entertainer, Matthew Perry knew innately 151 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: and from a young age that when he entered a 152 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: room he had to make you laugh until your side's hurt, 153 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 1: and that when he exited the room, he needed to 154 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: have the last laugh. Sometimes innate wit wasn't enough. Socially, 155 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: alcohol helped it, greased the social skits, making the jokes 156 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: flow with a little less effort. Matthew discovered this as 157 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: early as fourteen years old, and his drinking persisted throughout 158 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: the early days of his young acting career, not that 159 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: that was unusual for a young aspiring actor in Hollywood 160 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: at the time, everyone had seemed drink and everyone wanted 161 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: to be famous. When Matthew Perry first read the script 162 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: for Friends, or for six of One, as the show 163 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: was initially titled, he knew that the role of Chandler 164 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: Bing would make him famous. He was Chandler Bing, a 165 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: character that used humor in sarcasm to mask his vulnerability. 166 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 1: Matthew couldn't think of a more accurate portrayal of him 167 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 1: as a person, never mind a more perfect role for 168 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: him to play. He read for the role and he 169 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: killed it. Then he got down on his knees and 170 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: prayed to God, saying, God, you can do whatever you 171 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:40,840 Speaker 1: want to me, just please make me famous. God listened, 172 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: God acted. Matthew Perry booked the role of Chandler Bing. 173 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: Friends aired on September twenty second, nineteen ninety four, and 174 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: was an instant smash. To say that Friends was a 175 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:59,199 Speaker 1: successful TV show is an understatement. We recognize it now 176 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: as one of the most tcessful television shows of all time, 177 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 1: and it was. But if you weren't there in the 178 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 1: nineties during its run, especially the breakout hyper fame of 179 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 1: those early seasons, it's hard to understand what the show 180 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: actually was. It's no stretch to call it a cultural phenomenon. Understandably, 181 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: people compare Friends to Seinfeld, but Friends did things Seinfeld 182 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: never did. Friends changed the way people dressed. Seinfeld never 183 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: did that. Friends changed the way people wore their hair. 184 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: Seinfeld never did that. Friends changed the way people spoke. 185 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: Seinfeld never did that either. And Friends made massive celebrities 186 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: out of each of its stars. Seinfeld definitely never did that. 187 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: The influence of Friends at the time is morrikin to 188 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:56,719 Speaker 1: the influence of the Beatles, not of Seinfeld. But by 189 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: season three of Friends, Matthew Perry realized the full scope 190 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: of what he had asked of God. Yes, God had 191 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:07,679 Speaker 1: made him famous, and yes God was going to do 192 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: whatever he wanted with him. Fame, Matthew Perry learned, was 193 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: not enough. It didn't break the silence in his head 194 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,560 Speaker 1: at night. It didn't call the fear that he wasn't 195 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: good enough. 196 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 2: No one won't ever love you. 197 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: It opened doors, sure, and yes, Matthew consistently knocked everyone 198 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: dead with laughs every time he walked through those doors, 199 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,719 Speaker 1: both on and off stage, but those laughs only went 200 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: so far. At the end of the day, it was 201 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: still just Matthew alone with himself and the familiar thought 202 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 1: that he wasn't enough. Soon, though, the alcohol wasn't enough either, 203 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: not enough to keep his demons at bay. So Matthew 204 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: turned to pills, the opiate's vicotin and soon a tolerance 205 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 1: was developed, so much so that by season three of 206 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: the show that made him fain, Matthew Perry was taking 207 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: fifty five pills a day to stay high, and when 208 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: he wasn't chasing lass on stage at the Warner Brothers 209 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: studio lot, he was chasing down crooked doctors and nurses 210 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 1: sympathetic to his faked migraines and TV star charm. Fifty 211 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: five pills a day had utterly destroyed Matthew's appetite, knocking 212 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: him down to a deathly looking one hundred and twenty 213 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: eight pounds. Season three of Friends, Wrapped in the very 214 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 1: famous Matthew Perry checked himself into rehab for the first 215 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: of what would become an eventual sixty five times in 216 00:14:39,320 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: detox outside the Hazelt and Betty Ford Drug Treatment Facility 217 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: in Center City, Minnesota, about ten minutes across Interstate four 218 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 1: ninety four is the tiny city of New Hope. There, 219 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: back in nineteen ninety seven, the small paper shop, Hawk's, 220 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 1: Hallmark cards, magazines, newspapers, the New Hope Golden Valley Post News, 221 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: among them, not to mention candy, cigarettes, cigars, and scratch tickets. 222 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: The magazine stand is one of a million you've seen before. 223 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: It's filled with late nineties titles, with covers featuring mega 224 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: famous celebrities, lasting megawatts smiles backup prospective Middle American magazine readers. 225 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: Behind the glitzy confidence. If you squint, you'll see it, 226 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:52,359 Speaker 1: the faint vibe of desperation. 227 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 2: It's hard to catch. 228 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: Most confuse it with vulnerability, and yes, there is vulnerability there, 229 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: but mostly it's a list desperation. Celebrities appear to be 230 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: on top of the world with confidence, especially when they're 231 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: glitzed out on magazine covers under perfect lighting, framed and 232 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: captured by some of the most talented photographers in the world. 233 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 2: But they're there for. 234 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: A reason because they need your adoration. It feeds them. 235 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: They need it more than money, some need it more 236 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: than love. Some even need it more than drugs. 237 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 2: It was a jump ball. 238 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: The question of whether Matthew Perry needed your adoration more 239 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 1: than he needed the drugs. Still there he is one 240 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: of the biggest television stars on the planet. On the 241 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: cover of Entertainment Weekly with the screaming headline a friend 242 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: in Need, And there he is. On the cover of People, 243 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: another headline announces Matthew Perry's addiction crisis. Other magazines seventeen, GQ, 244 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: and in Style host other cover stars Jennifer Love, Hewitt, 245 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: Mira Servina, and Helen Hunt, but all feature notices teasing 246 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: Matthew Perry's recent stint in rehab just up the road 247 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: from New Hope at Hazelden, where at the moment, Matthew 248 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: was using the rehab facility's wall for emotional support, standing up, 249 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: pressing the side of his face into the cold cement, 250 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:24,080 Speaker 1: his arms outstretched wide and in a way, pinning himself 251 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 1: to the wall in a makeshift hug. Matthew needed the 252 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 1: wall to be able to move. Matthew needed the wall 253 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: for comfort. Matthew needed the wall because it was all 254 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 1: he had besides the feeling that he was going to die. 255 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: The voice told him, so, you'll never live like a 256 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:48,199 Speaker 1: real man. Detoxing off of opiates won't kill you like 257 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: detoxing off of Ben's a dream or alcohol will. But 258 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,479 Speaker 1: detoxing off of opiates will hurt so bad it'll make 259 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:58,679 Speaker 1: you wish you were dead. Opiate abuse and taking fifty 260 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: five opiate lace pills a day certainly qualifies this abuse 261 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: will also rewire your brain. It'll confuse your brain so 262 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: severely that not only will your brain no longer process 263 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: pleasure and pain the way a healthy brain does, but 264 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: it'll also take you months, if not an entire year, 265 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: of solid sobriety before your brain rewires itself back to normal. 266 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 1: Matthew Perry was sober, he detoxed and stopped taking vicodin 267 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: and drinking vodka while in rehab, but he was utterly confused, 268 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: violently sick, and felt like he was completely alone. Hugging 269 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 1: the wall was all he had in Somewhere in his 270 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: drug addled brain. There was a strange sense of comfort 271 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: in realizing this. Being alone felt familiar. It seemed inevitable, 272 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: like the thing he feared the most had finally happened, 273 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 1: so he could stop worrying about it now. But then 274 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:55,360 Speaker 1: that acknowledgment would get buried. 275 00:18:56,359 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 2: Very capable of joy. 276 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: And the physical pain of addiction return and once again 277 00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:09,679 Speaker 1: consumed the twenty eight year old television star. In nineteen 278 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,959 Speaker 1: seventy six, the British Medical Journal published a study by 279 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: doctors G. 280 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:14,879 Speaker 2: Edwards and M. M. 281 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: Cross that diagnosed alcoholism as an illness a disease. In 282 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, a memorandum published by the World Health 283 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:28,200 Speaker 1: Organization broadened the original nineteen seventy six study to include 284 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 1: other drugs as well. This meant that medically speaking, if 285 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,199 Speaker 1: you were an addict, your addiction was a disease, just 286 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: like any other life threatening disease, like say, cancer or Alzheimer's. 287 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: This was a massive shift from the prevailing attitude at 288 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: the time that alcoholism and drug addiction were choices people made. 289 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: Having grown up in a town full of fellow irishmen 290 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 1: and lots of friends of Bill w this classification of 291 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: addiction as a disease is not news to me. But 292 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: what is surprising is that to this day people still 293 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: believe that addiction is a choice. Whenever I post any 294 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: information on an entertainer that I'm covering who dies of 295 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: drug abuse or alcoholism, there's always a good portion of 296 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: the comments damning the addict for their choices in life. 297 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,159 Speaker 1: Given all that we know, this attitude in twenty twenty 298 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:25,160 Speaker 1: four is shocking, not to mention ignorant. That said, it's 299 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: a mistake that even I've made, despite knowing on an 300 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: intellectual level anyway, that addiction is a disease. In the past, 301 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: I falsely believe that loved ones could get clean if 302 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,359 Speaker 1: they just tried a little harder, as if the deployment 303 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,879 Speaker 1: of personal effort alone could solve their illness. I'm embarrassed 304 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,120 Speaker 1: to say that, despite my own deeply personal experiences with addicts, 305 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,800 Speaker 1: it wasn't until researching this episode that I realized the 306 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: true nature of opioid addiction and the herculean effort it 307 00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: requires to detox from opiates. Detoxing permanently requires a wide 308 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: array of tactics beyond willingness and resiliency. Beating the disease, 309 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: as Matthew Perry was learning during his first stint, and 310 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: rehab necessitates a mix of not only personal grit, but 311 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: psychological care, physical therapy, carefully administered medication, time, patience, and 312 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: lots of love both external and internal. Not to mention 313 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:29,680 Speaker 1: luck defeeding the disease of opiate addiction is an insanely 314 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:34,400 Speaker 1: steep uphill battle that is different for every addict. Back 315 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 1: in the late nineties, you'd be hard pressed to find 316 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: a doctor, a nurse, or a pain specialist, whatever the 317 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,240 Speaker 1: hell that is, or a big pharm of sales rep 318 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 1: who would tell you that these prescribed opiates were even addictive, 319 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: when we now know the truth that addiction to these 320 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,679 Speaker 1: pills to vic it into oxycon wasn't just a bug, 321 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: it was. 322 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 2: Practically a feature. 323 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: And if, like Matthew Perry, you were genetically predisposed to 324 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: addiction to the disease, the likelihood that you could stay 325 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,159 Speaker 1: clean after detoxing was slim to none. Sure there were 326 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: those who get clean off of opiates, but most need 327 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: other addictive opiate medication like syboxone methadone to do so. 328 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: And yes, some people do go cold turkey, but even 329 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 1: so sobriety is a daily battle. In the future is unwritten. 330 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: Matthew Perry's future in nineteen ninety seven was an abstract 331 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:33,159 Speaker 1: concept as he propped his body up in the halls 332 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,640 Speaker 1: of the Hazelden Rehab facility, drool running down his chin, 333 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:42,120 Speaker 1: hugging the wall. Once again, strange sounds rattled around his head, 334 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: coyotes and children, and the clunky, half mechanical, half digital 335 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: sound of something exciting shaking itself to life, a memory 336 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: of a new hope. 337 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 2: Are you right back after this? 338 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: We're we're where? Before email, before cell phones, long before 339 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: social media, fax machines were used to transmit the written 340 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: word over long distances. Matthew Perry's fax machine was working 341 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: overtime lately in these heady early days of friends. Million 342 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: dollar offers for starring roles in films mostly, but that 343 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: wasn't what had Matthew figuratively chained to his fax machine. 344 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: Now we'll cause Matthew to not go too far from 345 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,120 Speaker 1: his facts and to race home after work to check 346 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: its messages. Was a long distance flirtation Matthew had going 347 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: on with the biggest movie star on the planet, Julia 348 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: Roberts poems Get to Know Your Missives, and conversations about 349 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: their shared love of the La Kings. Conversations that started 350 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: professionally progressed quickly to personal and then romantic, consumed Matthew's imagination. 351 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,119 Speaker 1: Soon Julia rapt production on Woody Allen's Everyone Says I 352 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,199 Speaker 1: Love You returned to the States, and she and Matthew 353 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: started dating each other. It was perfect, so it had 354 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: to end. Matthew Perry couldn't handle a perfect relationship with 355 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 1: the perfect woman whose love should have perfectly suited him, 356 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: because Matthew Perry knew in his bones that he was 357 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 1: far from perfect, and that someday Julia Roberts would realize 358 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: this and she would leave him for it, and that 359 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,520 Speaker 1: pain would hurt worse than him leaving her now, So 360 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,119 Speaker 1: Matthew Perry broke up with the biggest movie star on 361 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: the planet, who wanted nothing more than to be with him, 362 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: to take care of him, and to share a future 363 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: with him. Matthew's future was not to be shared with 364 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,399 Speaker 1: anyone or anything except for what he called the big 365 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: terrible thing, which was his consuming drug habit. The fact 366 00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: that Matthew had the number one television show in the 367 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,400 Speaker 1: world at the same time that he had the number 368 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 1: one movie, The Whole Nine Yards, starring alongside the coolest 369 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: dude Matthew had ever met, Bruce Willis, none of this 370 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:13,919 Speaker 1: changed Matthew's relationship with drugs and alcohol. If anything, the 371 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: busier or more successful, the more famous Matthew cut, the 372 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: deeper he sunk into addiction. 373 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:22,480 Speaker 2: Hazelden worked in. 374 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: Cleaning him up for a moment anyway, and then there 375 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: was a slip up. Then there was methadone to suppress 376 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: the all consuming need for opiates. Matthew never showed up 377 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: high to work on the set of Friends, but he 378 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: was constantly hungover xanax, cocaine, the nightly Court of vodka. 379 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:42,919 Speaker 1: The hangovers were intense until the lights went on and 380 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 1: the director yelled to action. Most times Matthew could summon 381 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: the strength to overcome the physical and mental pain, hit 382 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,560 Speaker 1: his mark and deliver his line as Chandler Bing, But 383 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,360 Speaker 1: once the director yelled cut, Matthew would sink back into 384 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:04,359 Speaker 1: the prickly embrace the big terrible thing. Jennifer Aniston confronted him. 385 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: Matthew's sense of professional pride kicked in, and another trip 386 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: to rehab after Friends wrapped was booked. Once Matthew checked in, 387 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 1: the effectiveness of rehab was now being challenged by an 388 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: attic whose disease compelled him to manipulate the rules to 389 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,720 Speaker 1: find and use more drugs. It was a vicious predicament. 390 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,800 Speaker 1: Eventually Matthew was discharged, but in short order he started 391 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: getting high again, and just as friends soared to new 392 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: heights and popularity, Matthew once again crashed. Central Perk was 393 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,880 Speaker 1: one of those local coffee shops that no longer exists. 394 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 1: These days, coffee shops are about corporate efficiency and are 395 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: run by corporate overlords. Order online to save time, storm 396 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: into the shop with earbuds on, ignore conversation with any 397 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 1: other customers less they slow down your commute, and be 398 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,479 Speaker 1: lined to a special online takeout counter. Pick up your order, perhaps, 399 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: grunt to the coffee shop worker behind the counter, and 400 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: get out of there and out on the street with 401 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: your earbuds. Back in and off to work, so you 402 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,400 Speaker 1: could ignore a bunch of different people and slave away 403 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: at your job for your very own corporate overlords. Or 404 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: if you're say unemployed or underemployed, or want to connect 405 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,639 Speaker 1: with an old friend, you hit the coffee shops. Stand 406 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,720 Speaker 1: in a different line, one where you order in person, 407 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: catch some attitude from the worker for not ordering online. Wait, 408 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,639 Speaker 1: grab your coffee, and you sit in hard What are 409 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,200 Speaker 1: those seats made out of anyway? For Micah plastic, whatever 410 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: they are, they are intentionally uncomfortable seats because mister corporate 411 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: coffee doesn't want your underemployed ass hanging out in his 412 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 1: coffee shop for too long because he needs to service 413 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: new customers with new money. Coffee shops weren't always like this, 414 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,240 Speaker 1: and sure a few of the old local shops still 415 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: exist somewhere, I guess, but they're the minority shops that 416 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: encourage just hanging around. 417 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 2: But that's what coffee shops were like in the nineties. 418 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,920 Speaker 1: Coffee came into these big, massive cups that would more 419 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: often than not get reft for free. The seating was 420 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 1: even bigger, puffy or huge shabby sheet furniture purchased in 421 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,239 Speaker 1: thrift shops and good wills that seemed to invite you 422 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 1: to take a load off, get comfy, and hang out 423 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,640 Speaker 1: with your friends as long as you like. The snacks 424 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,239 Speaker 1: were far from health conscious like they are today. They 425 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: were loaded with sugar that would eventually make you sleepy 426 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 1: and cause you to sink deeper into the big puffy 427 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: chair you were sitting in. This is what Central Perk 428 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 1: was like, the fictional coffee shop from Friends where Matthew 429 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: Perry and his cast mates were currently sitting filming a scene. 430 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 1: Though it wasn't sugar causing Matthew to sink into his chair. 431 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: It was his hangover. Matt LeBlanc, the actor who played Joey, 432 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 1: was the only one who caught it, and thank god, 433 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,320 Speaker 1: he caught it quickly. Matthew's line was coming up, and 434 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,960 Speaker 1: it was a big one, one of those scene ending 435 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: side splitting lines meant to punctuate the story with laughter. 436 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: But there Matthew was. Matt saw it. Matthew was nodding off, 437 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: literally falling as sleep during the filming of the scene 438 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: in front of a live studio audience. Matt leblank quickly 439 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: nudged him, and Matthew came too quickly, so quickly that 440 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,239 Speaker 1: no one had seen him not off, and just in 441 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: time for him to deliver the line. That night, at home, 442 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: Matthew buried this awful memory with vodka. Then he felt 443 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,720 Speaker 1: something twisted in his side. This was not an ordinary pain. 444 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: This was unlike anything he'd ever felt in his thirty 445 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: years on this planet. Something was deeply wrong. Matthew was 446 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: rushed to the emergency room, where he was informed by 447 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: the attending doctor that he had a cute pancreatitis set 448 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: just thirty years old from drinking massive amounts of alcohol. 449 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: The pain was so severe that Matthew was kept in 450 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: the hospital for thirty days and nights and administer dilauded 451 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: for the pain. Dilauded as an opiate that Matthew Perry, 452 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: despite the accommodations, was now a very happy man. This 453 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: drug not only handled the pain in his stomach, it 454 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: changed his relationship with pain. It rewired his brain. It 455 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: gave him a false sense of pleasure, of happiness. But 456 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: what was happiness really? Wasn't it all just relative? At 457 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: the moment, Matthew didn't need anything yet a bed, a TV, 458 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,480 Speaker 1: and a constant supply of drugs. He also had the 459 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 1: highest paying job in television waiting for him when he 460 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: eventually got out of the hospital. When Friends started out, 461 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:35,200 Speaker 1: David Schwimmer, the actor who played Ross, was the show's 462 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: biggest star in terms of who the audience showed up 463 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 1: to see each week. David Shwimmer had the genius idea 464 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: early on in the show's run that no cast member, 465 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: not even himself, who was the only one at the 466 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: time in the position to do so, should make more 467 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: money than any other cast member. He presented this idea 468 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:56,360 Speaker 1: to Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, matt LeBlanc, Lisa Coudro, and 469 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: Matthew Perry, who all of course thought it was a great. 470 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:00,960 Speaker 2: Idea, and why wouldn't they. 471 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,240 Speaker 1: David was the only one who could have commanded astronomical money, 472 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,719 Speaker 1: so whatever the suits at NBC needed to pony up 473 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: to keep David happy, that was the same amount of 474 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: money they were going to have to pony up for 475 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: all of David's. 476 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:12,800 Speaker 2: Co stars as well. 477 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: David did this because he didn't want the hassle of 478 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: constant salary fights between the studio and the show's six stars. 479 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,720 Speaker 1: David knew the studio would pit each of them against 480 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: each other, and that inevitably certain stars would fall out 481 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: over salary beefs that need to be replaced, and the 482 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,520 Speaker 1: creative chemistry of the show would risk significant disruption. It 483 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: was a genius idea on David's part, especially as the 484 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 1: show grew in popularity, each of the star's own popularity grew, 485 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: some of whom eventually surpassed David himself in popularity, Jennifer 486 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: Aniston being one, Matthew Perry was not one. Matthew was 487 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: a massive star, sure, but no one on the show 488 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:53,520 Speaker 1: was as big as Jennifer Aniston. As Friends entered the 489 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: new millennium, Jennifer could have commanded a much bigger salary, 490 00:31:58,440 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: but she didn't. 491 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:01,720 Speaker 2: Every movie studio in Hollywood. 492 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 1: Wanted to put her in their movies and was willing 493 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:04,880 Speaker 1: to back up the money truck to make it happen. 494 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: So NBC needed a big enough payday for Jennifer Aniston 495 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: to keep her happy and on Friends. And because of 496 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: the deal the Friend stars made back in the first 497 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: season with David Swimmer, NBC now had to back up 498 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: the money truck for all of the co stars on Friends, 499 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:23,400 Speaker 1: not just Jennifer Aniston, and of course Matthew Perry included, 500 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 1: who was now in his hospital room, hooked up to 501 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:30,160 Speaker 1: a dilauded IV high as a kite as he signed 502 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: his new employment contract, the one that paid him just 503 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: as it did his five co stars, one million dollars 504 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: per episode, essentially one million dollars per week, one million 505 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: dollars times twenty four episodes for the next season, and 506 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: one million dollars for eighteen episodes for the final season 507 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: forty two million dollars. Matthew Perry was about to be 508 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 1: discharged from the hospital as a very, very rich man, 509 00:32:57,320 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: and he was also about to be discharged from the 510 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: hospital with an even stronger addiction to opiates than he 511 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: had when he went in. Matthew Perry's luxury car screamed 512 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,760 Speaker 1: down the road, with Matthew curled up in a ball 513 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: and the passenger seved and screaming in agony. His assistant 514 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 1: had one hand on the wheel and another pinning her 515 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: cellphone to her face. She was also screaming. 516 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:46,000 Speaker 2: High profile coming into er high profile. Matthew's pain in. 517 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: His stomach was so severe that the tiniest bump in 518 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: the road sent shocks of agony up his spine. Once 519 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 1: at the emergency room, Matthew was quickly hoisted onto a 520 00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:59,959 Speaker 1: wheel gurney get ready to run, One of the nurses 521 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: said to his assistant. Matthew was strapped in and the 522 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:08,440 Speaker 1: nurses sprinted him towards surgery. That's when Matthew Perry slipped 523 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: into the coma. It was just before his colon exploded. 524 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 1: Then he aspirated into his breathing tube and proceeded to 525 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:25,120 Speaker 1: vomit ten days of toxic feces into his lungs. Two 526 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:28,960 Speaker 1: weeks later, Matthew came out of the coma. It was 527 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen Friends had long since ended in two thousand 528 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 1: and four. Matthew had navigated around his disease to work 529 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:41,640 Speaker 1: in various film, television, and stage productions, some successful, some not, 530 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: but the end result was that Matthew's addiction prevented him 531 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: from adequately managing the type of career that a celebrity 532 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 1: of his stature is inclined to maintain. Matthew's personal life 533 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: post friends fared no better in the end. With every 534 00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: one of his girlfriends, whether Lauren Graham or Lizzie Kaplan, 535 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 1: the woman he should have married, or any of the 536 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: long line of beautiful women he dated both seriously and casually, 537 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 1: had always came down to the same thing. Matthew would 538 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,520 Speaker 1: end the relationship before fully committing, as a means of 539 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: protecting himself from the inevitable pain he feared he would 540 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,839 Speaker 1: suffer when these women would eventually find out who he 541 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: actually was and inevitably leave him. They'll never love you, 542 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:29,760 Speaker 1: they always leave. Matthew had to leave first. Matthew's personal 543 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:34,319 Speaker 1: life mostly devolved into an impersonal network of personal assistants, 544 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: sober companions, crooked doctors and nurses who would prescribe him 545 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 1: drugs and skeevie drug dealers, not that he didn't have 546 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 1: those around him who loved him. 547 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 2: He did. 548 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,560 Speaker 1: His co stars from friends stayed in contact, and his parents, 549 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: his mother and his father and his stepfather, as well 550 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,920 Speaker 1: as his siblings all did their best to support him 551 00:35:54,920 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: when Matthew allowed, and their help certainly inspired Matthew's intermittent sobriety. 552 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 1: But the drugs and alcohol took a real toll. Matthew 553 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:08,839 Speaker 1: not only suffered a coma, but the CPR process left 554 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,360 Speaker 1: him with eight broken ribs, He lost teeth or a 555 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:16,560 Speaker 1: colostomy back and ended up on life support. Then the 556 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:22,080 Speaker 1: pain was immense, both real and imagined, so Matthew tried 557 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,640 Speaker 1: burying the pain with more drugs, and this resulted in 558 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:32,320 Speaker 1: more rehabstance. In twenty twenty, in a Swiss rehab, Matthew's 559 00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:37,240 Speaker 1: pain was being treated with daily ketamine infusions. Matthew loved 560 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: the high. He said it was like getting hit in 561 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 1: the head with the happy shovel, but it wasn't enough, 562 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 1: so he faked the pain to get more drugs, and 563 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:51,280 Speaker 1: during this time Matthew needed another surgery. The doctors administered propofol, 564 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: the drug that killed Michael Jackson. Matthew's heart stopped for 565 00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:00,960 Speaker 1: a full five minutes. He was clinically dead, but miraculously 566 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:05,800 Speaker 1: was revived and survived. After surgery, Matthew spent one hundred 567 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:08,280 Speaker 1: and seventy five thousand dollars to fly to Los Angeles 568 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,879 Speaker 1: to get the drugs he couldn't get in Switzerland. When 569 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:13,600 Speaker 1: he was refused the drugs in Los Angeles, he spent 570 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: another one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars to fly 571 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: back to Switzerland to take. 572 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:19,640 Speaker 2: What they would give him. 573 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:25,120 Speaker 1: Matthew himself, in his twenty twenty two autobiography, estimated that 574 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,600 Speaker 1: he had spent nine million dollars in total on his 575 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: addiction over the years, fifteen rehabstance, fourteen surgeries, therapy two 576 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:40,040 Speaker 1: times a week, and over six thousand AA meetings. Perhaps 577 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,880 Speaker 1: the AA meetings inspired Matthew to finally get cleaned for good. 578 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:48,839 Speaker 1: At the start of the twenty twenties, there were those 579 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,040 Speaker 1: who believe, and I happen to be one of them, 580 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:55,160 Speaker 1: that good and evil are very real concepts. The dividing 581 00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:58,680 Speaker 1: line is free will. We have free will to choose 582 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:02,200 Speaker 1: between good and evil. Most of us, anyway, addicts are 583 00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: responsible for their choices, certainly, but for those with the disease, 584 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:08,959 Speaker 1: it's not as simple as making a choice to get 585 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:12,760 Speaker 1: clean and sticking to it. Most attics are good people 586 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:15,640 Speaker 1: who do not want to be addicted. It's the evil 587 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: of the drug. It's the evil of the drug dealers. 588 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:22,439 Speaker 1: It's the evil of the predatory doctors and pharma shareholders 589 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:27,480 Speaker 1: that so forcefully challenged the addicts free will. Matthew Perry 590 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:31,239 Speaker 1: had the will to get clean. He found God, and 591 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 1: God spoke to him in a rare moment of clarity. God, 592 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,680 Speaker 1: by Matthew Perry's own estimation, as detailed in his autobiography, 593 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:42,279 Speaker 1: gave him purpose in life. And that purpose wasn't to 594 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:45,400 Speaker 1: be a father or a husband, as Matthew always desired. 595 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 1: That purpose was to get clean and to use his 596 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,759 Speaker 1: experience with addiction to help others get clean, which he 597 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:57,040 Speaker 1: did even before Matthew had cleaned himself up. He converted 598 00:38:57,080 --> 00:38:59,960 Speaker 1: his home in Malibu into a treatment facility called Perry 599 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 1: House to help attics. Beyond Perry House, Matthew helped his 600 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 1: old drinking buddy Hank Azaria, get clean. He helped strangers 601 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,000 Speaker 1: who approached him on the street get sober. He used 602 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:14,880 Speaker 1: his celebrity to advocate against the overincarceration of drug offenders, 603 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:19,800 Speaker 1: testifying before a House subcommittee. He regularly spoke at treatment centers, 604 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,600 Speaker 1: he spoke at a conference to hundreds of thousands of 605 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 1: people over the course of one weekend, and he publicly 606 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:29,160 Speaker 1: put his own troubled experiences front and center in his 607 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:32,360 Speaker 1: later years in an effort to remove the stigma around addiction. 608 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,640 Speaker 1: Matthew's goal in life was no longer to be famous. 609 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:42,400 Speaker 1: He'd achieved that, and what he found was nothing. Fame 610 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:47,640 Speaker 1: is hollow. It doesn't fulfill you, it eats you once achieved. 611 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:50,920 Speaker 1: And given that I'm not famous, I can hardly understand this. 612 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,920 Speaker 1: But I've researched enough entertainers to grasp a deeper understanding 613 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:57,040 Speaker 1: of it. Once achieved, fame is more of a burden 614 00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 1: than an asset. That seems to be the party line 615 00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 1: from every entertainer. The ones who are properly grounded are 616 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,920 Speaker 1: the ones who deal with it best. The ones who 617 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: have psychological childhood trauma and addictive personalities like Matthew Perry, 618 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:15,640 Speaker 1: fame does more harm than good. When auditioning for friends, 619 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,600 Speaker 1: Matthew Perry got down on his knees and prayed to God, 620 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,439 Speaker 1: saying to him, God, you can do whatever you want 621 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,960 Speaker 1: to me, just please make me famous. And God answered 622 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:31,720 Speaker 1: Matthew's prayers. He made him famous, and that fame fed 623 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:35,719 Speaker 1: his addiction, and that addiction nearly destroyed Matthew Perry on 624 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:40,080 Speaker 1: numerous occasions. That destruction put Matthew in a position where 625 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:43,280 Speaker 1: the only way to survive was to find real purpose, 626 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:47,040 Speaker 1: not fame as he hoped, but a purpose in life, 627 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:49,600 Speaker 1: one that would give him a new hope, the new 628 00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: found purpose of helping others. In Matthew's position with his celebrity, 629 00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:58,520 Speaker 1: that men helping hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. 630 00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:01,200 Speaker 1: Maybe not as many pe people as Matthew made laugh 631 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:05,440 Speaker 1: during his stint on Friends, But what's more important, buzzy 632 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:09,080 Speaker 1: one liners from Chandler BNG were saving people's lives from 633 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:13,879 Speaker 1: the evils of drugs and alcohol. God did indeed do 634 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,320 Speaker 1: what he wanted with Matthew Perry. He wanted Matthew Perry 635 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:17,960 Speaker 1: to help. 636 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:19,320 Speaker 2: People with his life. 637 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:24,280 Speaker 1: The question remains, how many people will Matthew Perry's story 638 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:32,439 Speaker 1: help now that he's dead. Hold on, this story isn't over. 639 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:36,280 Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about bad habits in this episode, 640 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,800 Speaker 1: and I too have bad habits, not anywhere near Matthew 641 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,320 Speaker 1: Perry's bad habits, but I do have the toxic habit 642 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,759 Speaker 1: of sometimes checking Instagram first thing in the morning when 643 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,000 Speaker 1: I wake up. A couple of weeks ago, bleary eyed, 644 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:50,720 Speaker 1: before my first espresso in the morning, I scrolled across 645 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,880 Speaker 1: an Instagram post suggesting that Matthew Perry was murdered. I 646 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,760 Speaker 1: was groggy, disassociated. I've been awake only seconds. My stomach 647 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,800 Speaker 1: if for the past week, I'd been deep into researching 648 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:06,640 Speaker 1: Matthew Perry and more specifically the life he lived that 649 00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:09,319 Speaker 1: led to his overdose and death on October twenty eighth, 650 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:13,759 Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. Chandler Bing was living rent free in 651 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,960 Speaker 1: my head at the moment, and the idea that he 652 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:20,240 Speaker 1: was murdered, though, was shocking, but knowing what I'd recently learned, 653 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:24,160 Speaker 1: it didn't seem outlandish in the least. If one was 654 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:26,520 Speaker 1: going to get away with murdering a celebrity in twenty 655 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,319 Speaker 1: twenty three, a murderer would be hard pressed to find 656 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:33,160 Speaker 1: an easier victim than Matthew Perry. During his final days, 657 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:36,719 Speaker 1: Matthew had been back on drugs, subjecting himself to the 658 00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:40,000 Speaker 1: glorious high of the Happy shovel, and undergoing legally administered 659 00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:44,520 Speaker 1: ketamine infusions to treat his depression and anxiety. The ketemie 660 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,480 Speaker 1: Matthew had been legally administered would have worn off by 661 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:49,760 Speaker 1: the time he died, and with the amount of ketamine 662 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,760 Speaker 1: in his system, authorities believed he had been obtaining ketamine 663 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:56,240 Speaker 1: illegally from a street source, and there was no murder, 664 00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: just clickbait sort of. On August sixteenth, twenty twenty four, 665 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:06,120 Speaker 1: the US Attorney's Office announced in a press conference that 666 00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:10,240 Speaker 1: was nationally broadcast live on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News 667 00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:13,320 Speaker 1: that five people have been arrested and charged in connection 668 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:17,200 Speaker 1: with the death of Matthew Perry. Two street dealers, Eric 669 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:21,080 Speaker 1: Fleming and another known as the Ketamine Queen, Jazvine Sanga, 670 00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:25,319 Speaker 1: along with two doctors, Salvador Placentia and Mark Chavez, and 671 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:30,200 Speaker 1: Matthew's live in personal assistant, Kenneth Awamasa. And the five 672 00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,040 Speaker 1: were charged with a mix of distribution, possession, and records 673 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:38,120 Speaker 1: falsification charges, but none with manslaughter or murder. Three of 674 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:42,440 Speaker 1: the five have already reached plea agreements. Doctor Placentia has 675 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:46,719 Speaker 1: pleaded not guilty. Text messages reveal that Placentia was actively 676 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,319 Speaker 1: praying on Matthew Perry's addiction, saying about Matthew and a 677 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,560 Speaker 1: message to one of his alleged co conspirators about the 678 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 1: ketemine that doctor Placentia was selling to Matthew Perry quote, 679 00:43:56,280 --> 00:44:00,160 Speaker 1: let's see how much this moron will pay un quote. 680 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:04,920 Speaker 1: I remind you that text came from a doctor illegally 681 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,480 Speaker 1: selling prescribed drugs on the street. 682 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:09,240 Speaker 2: Evil. 683 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:15,239 Speaker 1: In the end, it was too much for Matthew Perry, who, 684 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,399 Speaker 1: on that day in late October twenty twenty three, took 685 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:21,239 Speaker 1: his illegal dose of ketamine, then slipped into his hot 686 00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:25,360 Speaker 1: tub in his backyard overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He was 687 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:27,879 Speaker 1: found the next morning floating face down in the water. 688 00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,759 Speaker 1: He drowned after the powerful effects of the ketemie caused 689 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: him to slip underwater unconscious. And there were no kids 690 00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:42,080 Speaker 1: in the distance laughing, no coyotes, not even any scary voices, 691 00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:46,720 Speaker 1: no fear, no pain, and no one for Matthew Perry 692 00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,880 Speaker 1: to leave before they broke his heart and left him. 693 00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:53,480 Speaker 1: Because Matthew Perry had just left for good. 694 00:44:55,760 --> 00:45:11,839 Speaker 3: I'm Jake Brennan and this this Disgrace Lam. 695 00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:14,360 Speaker 1: All right, that was a sad one, guys, I'm going 696 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:16,319 Speaker 1: to focus on something a little less emotional for this 697 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:18,880 Speaker 1: week's question of the week. We did a friends in 698 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:20,800 Speaker 1: Seinfeld comparison in this episode. 699 00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:21,480 Speaker 2: I'm actually more of. 700 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:23,360 Speaker 1: A Seinfeld guide despite the way I laid up the 701 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:24,400 Speaker 1: two shows in this story. 702 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,600 Speaker 2: But that exercise prompted me to want to ask you. 703 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:31,320 Speaker 1: Guys, what is the greatest television show of all time? 704 00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,440 Speaker 2: And why? Lots of great shows to choose. 705 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:37,919 Speaker 1: From, but you can only choose one six one seven 706 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,720 Speaker 1: nine oh six six six three eight. Leave me a voicemail, 707 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:42,440 Speaker 1: send me a text and let me know. You can 708 00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:45,120 Speaker 1: also reach me at disgrace lampod as well on Instagram, 709 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:47,719 Speaker 1: X and Facebook. I'm gonna be sharing your answers on 710 00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,680 Speaker 1: the after party bonus episode that's coming up next. Leave 711 00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:53,480 Speaker 1: a review for the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 712 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:57,439 Speaker 1: and win some free merch. All right, here come some credits. 713 00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:01,400 Speaker 1: Disgrace Slam was created by Yours Truly and is produced 714 00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:04,799 Speaker 1: in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can 715 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:07,480 Speaker 1: be found on the show notes page at disgracelampod. 716 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:08,560 Speaker 2: Dot com. 717 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:11,880 Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank. 718 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,040 Speaker 2: You for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. 719 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:16,600 Speaker 1: And if not, you can become a member right now 720 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:21,200 Speaker 1: by going to disgracelampod dot com slash Membership. Members can 721 00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:25,080 Speaker 1: listen to every episode of disgracelan ad free, Plus you'll 722 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:29,400 Speaker 1: get one brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted 723 00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:33,400 Speaker 1: bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access to merchandise 724 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:38,440 Speaker 1: and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com slash membership for details, 725 00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:41,680 Speaker 1: rate and review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, 726 00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:45,640 Speaker 1: and Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot 727 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:49,760 Speaker 1: com slash at Disgracelandpod rock a roll up. 728 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:54,760 Speaker 2: He then