The death of Matthew Perry was a shock to many friends and fans. While Perry’s struggles with addiction were well known, it was believed that Perry was in recovery and was sober at the time that he drowned in a hot tub. However, it seems there was at least one person who suspected there was something else going on, with Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen has dealt with his own demons, and has now written a book, and is at the center of a new Netflix documentary about his life. Sheen recently appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored and says that it was when he watched Perry promote his own book, which was released shortly before the Friends actor's death, that Sheen says he saw something that he recognized, which indicated what Perry’s actual state was. Sheen said…
I could see when he was promoting it, and I could feel the prison that he’d put himself in, because I could tell he wasn’t sober talking about a book that is all about sobriety and recovery and coming out of the things that I described.
Perry and Sheen certainly had some things in common, which may have been what allowed the Two and a Half Men actor to see things that others perhaps could not. While Sheen was older and became a star earlier, both became the stars of massively popular sitcoms, and it was at that time that each had their major battles with addiction, with Sheen's battle being the more public at the time. Perry also became friends with Sheen's ex-wife during rehab.
Charlie Sheen says he read Matthew Perry’s book, reading it in a day. As it happens, each man is mentioned in the other’s book. Sheen admits he didn’t know Perry well, but it seems that, since the actors had similar experiences, Sheen recognized something in Perry that he felt he understood well.
Sheen specifically mentions a time that Perry was on Bill Maher’s show to discuss the book, and feeling that Perry wasn’t focused on the interview. Sheen also says he heard something similar when listening to part of the audiobook version of Perry’s memoir, saying…
I felt bad for him, and then when I heard a little snippet from the audiobook, he didn’t have that perfect, specific, laser-focused diction that he always had delivering comedy or anything at the level that he did.
Sheen said he wanted to reach out to Perry, but never did, though he admits it was unlikely he would have done anything that would have changed what happened. Perry was found drowned in a hot tub in October 2023. Ketamine was found in his system in concentrations much higher than should have been there based on the therapy he was taking at the time.
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