Matthew Perry’s assistant made frantic 911 call after the Friends star suffered cardiac arrest in jacuzzi
MATTHEW Perry’s assistant made a frantic 911 call after the Friends star suffered a cardiac arrest in his hot tub.
The 15-second dispatch audio clip refers to a drowning — known as an Emergency Medical Situation 9.
A first responder says: “Agent 23. Rescue 23. EMS 9 on the radio. In response to the drowning.”
Matthew, 54 — Chandler Bing in the global smash sitcom — was unresponsive when found in his back-garden hot tub at 4pm on Saturday.
He had been candid about his struggles with drink and drugs, and health problems.
Cops confirmed the death was being investigated but no foul play is suspected.
No narcotics were discovered at the scene, but authorities found anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs and a drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
On the morning of his death Matthew had played racquet sport pickleball with a female friend, who revealed the star had felt unwell and “fatigued” for the past week.
The actor was said to have been in good spirits as he played at the Riviera Country Club near his home in the Pacific Palisades region of Los Angeles.
He returned home and later sent his assistant on an errand, but was unresponsive when they returned two hours later.
TV host Billy Bush said: “I spoke to the woman he played with this morning, and every morning. She is in shock. She adored Matt.
“She said he’d been fatigued today and over the past week. A little more than usual. He played for one hour then went home.”
Country club members said Matthew had also practised with a male friend.
One said: “He was hitting with a guy yesterday who is well-known here. I’ve spoken to him, he’s fairly upset.
“As someone who really watched the show Friends, that was a very cool pop culture moment in history.
“You won’t find anyone who spoke ill of him here.”
Yesterday Friends fans left flowers at the New York apartment building which featured in the show.
The Sun understands Matthew was living alone but spent time with assistants and sober companions having recently downsized from a multi-million dollar penthouse.
Last weekend he enjoyed a meal at The Apple Pan, an LA restaurant famed for its burgers.
Investigators spent hours at the house as Matthew’s family were seen looking distraught as they arrived.
They left some hours later and the medical examiner arrived about 10.35pm.
The examiner then left with the body at 1.06am yesterday.
Matthew’s dad John Bennett Perry, 82 — who had a cameo in a 1998 Friends episode — arrived at the house on Saturday evening.
He was joined by his ex, the star’s mum Suzanne Morrison, 75, and stepdad Keith Morrison, 76.
A neighbour who saw emergency services arrive said: “I was very sad. At the same time I did kind of expect it in some sense, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.
“He’d not lived there long. I was very heartbroken to see what happened. I encountered him once, he was very friendly, friendlier than I thought.
“Very nice genuine guy. I’ve always looked up to Matthew and he’s probably one of my favourite actors of all time.
“He made the funniest jokes on the show.
“I just hope his friends and family can come together at this time.”
Perry’s last-known relationship was his engagement to Molly Hurwitz, a literary manager for Thruline Entertainment in LA.
He proposed in November 2020 after more than a year of dating but they parted in June 2021.
Matthew said then: “Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them.”
Yesterday morning Molly, 32, was seen leaving her West Hollywood home to walk her dogs and talk with a friend over coffee.
Neighbours said Matthew had spent months renovating his new home and wanted it finished quickly.
One said: “The work was loud and going on for weeks.
“I think he was upset with his contractor because it was taking so long. The noise only stopped about a week ago, and to think he has barely enjoyed the pool. Now he’s gone. It’s incredibly sad.”
In one of his last interviews Matthew had spoken of his dream of becoming a husband.
Friends also told The Sun he was desperate to be a dad.
After getting sober in 2021, Matthew said: “I’m not run by the fear I used to be run by so everything’s kind of different.
“I’m feeling more confident and I’m not afraid of love anymore, so the next girl I go out with better watch out.”
In 2016, he told BBC Radio 2 that he could not even remember three years of filming Friends because of drink and drugs.
Two years later he suffered a gastrointestinal perforation as a result of extreme opiate usage. He was given a two per cent chance of living after he was in coma for two weeks.
Matthew wrote in-depth about his battle with alcohol and drug addiction in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
The book was released on the back of the 2021 Friends reunion which saw him back with his five co-stars — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
Matthew revealed he was once taking up to 55 Vicodin painkillers a day during Friends’ third season, and was abusing tranquilliser Xanax and OxyContin, also for pain relief.
Over the course of the series, the actor said his weight fluctuated “between 128lbs and 225lbs,” depending on which addiction he was fighting — drink or drugs.
He wrote: “I weighed 128lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30million people — and that’s why I can’t watch the show, because I was brutally thin.
“I had a rule that I would never drink or do drugs while working.
“Because I had too much respect for the five people I was working with. So I was never wasted while working.
“The thing that always makes me cry . . . is that it’s not fair.
“It’s not fair that I had to go through this disease while the other five didn’t.”