Friends star Matthew Perry’s younger sister and stepfather have opened up about their loss and how they are remembering the beloved star following his death last year aged 54.
Keith Morrison and his daughter Caitlin Morrison made the emotional comments in a new interview with HELLO! Canada.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Matthew Perry gives advice for people struggling with addiction.
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Caitlin, 43, who shares the same mother as Perry, is the executive director of Canada’s Matthew Perry Foundation.
Perry spent much of his childhood in the country when his parents divorced and his mother married Morrison, a Canadian journalist.
“It feels like I’m sitting right next to Matthew, working with him every day on something that was important to him,” Caitlin said of her role with the foundation.
“I have this treasure of getting to keep him very, very close to my life all the time, which is wonderful.”
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Keith Morrison, who married Perry’s mother in 1981, recalled the shock of losing him.
“Anybody who has lost a child will tell you that, even if you are in some way prepared for the possibility, it’s shattering.”
The Canadian-American actor, best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s sitcom, died in an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
Morrison emphasised the importance of honouring Perry’s memory
“What we have decided to do is hang on to that determination and try to do something useful,” he said.
Caitlin described how Perry had a unique ability to light up a room.
“When people were in a room with Matthew, there was this magnetic energy,” she told the outlet.
Perry became a big brother to half-siblings Caitlin, Emily, Will and Madeline when his mother had children with Morrison.
Caitlin said he had taught her many valuable life lessons including “how to butter popcorn correctly, how to ‘edit’ a report card (and) how to perform ‘Who’s on First’ with perfect comedic timing”.
Who’s on First? is a comedy routine made famous by the American comedy duo Abbott and Costello.
But she said the most important of all was: “No matter how many times you fail, you haven’t failed until you stop trying.”
Perry’s mother, Suzanne, is also involved with the foundation, which aims to honour the star’s legacy by continuing his commitment to helping others through recovery.
Perry spent the latter part of his life advocating for awareness around addiction and challenging the stigma associated with it.
He released a memoir called Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing in which he addressed his addiction issues.
He said it was possible for people to change and put addiction behind them.
Perry had long struggled with an addiction to alcohol and painkillers and spent years in and out of rehab.
Perry’s painkiller addiction began in the late 1990s after a jet skiing accident left him in pain.
However, his battle with alcohol began when he was a teenager and then became worse as his fame grew, with the actor admitting he often turned up to film drunk or hungover and barely remembered making three seasons of Friends.
His memoir revealed that he had a near-death experience in 2019 after his colon burst as a result of his use of opioids.
Perry had also been hospitalised with pancreatitis in 2000 because of his alcohol abuse.
His post-Friends life included multiple roles that drew respect and acclaim, but it was often dominated by headlines about his addiction.
In the book, Perry said he spent as much as $US7 million ($A11 million) on rehabilitation and recovery efforts.
“The best thing about me, bar none, is that if somebody comes to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me?’ I can say ‘yes’ and follow up and do it,” he said on the Q With Tom Power podcast last year, as he discussed his book.
Perry went on to say he wanted to be remembered “as somebody who lived well, loved well, was a seeker” and that “his paramount thing is that he wants to help people”.