It's still hard to believe that Friends actor Matthew Perry is gone. The ripples of the actor’s death can still be felt throughout Hollywood, and those who knew him are still grappling with the sudden and immense loss — including George Clooney, who was a friend of Matthew's for a long time. Matthew was working on Friends while George was starring on ER, two of the biggest shows on NBC at the time. And now, George is speaking out about his friend's death.
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George believes that Matthew 'wasn't happy' despite getting his dream job.
According to George, when Matthew was starting out in his career, he would say, "I just want to get on a sitcom, man. I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I would be the happiest man on earth." But unfortunately, even having that wish come true wasn't enough.
"He wasn’t happy. It didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace," George said in an interview with Deadline.
He admitted that he didn't know the depth of his friend's addiction.
George talked about what it was like for both him and Matthew to be starring on shows that debuted at the same time and how they "were there right next to each other" on the Warner Brothers lot. But despite working so close to each other, George admitted that he had no idea what was really going on.
"We just knew that he wasn’t happy and I had no idea he was doing what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff," he said.
George thinks Matthew's addiction proves that money can't buy happiness.
"It also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn’t just automatically bring you happiness. You have to be happy with yourself and your life," George said.
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The actors enjoyed a long friendship.
Elsewhere in the interview, George also reflected on when he first met Matthew.
"I knew Matt when he was 16 years old," he explained. "We used to play paddle tennis together. He’s about 10 years younger than me. He was a great, funny, funny, funny kid."
George also reflected on how addiction can change a person's life.
George is no stranger to the ups and downs of a Hollywood career, and how addiction can affect someone in the public eye.
"I know what Matt Perry had, and maybe part of it is what he didn’t," he said. "I know his family was in the business, but maybe there wasn’t that thing that said, this is going to go in waves where our careers are concerned."
