The New York Times reports:
Matthew Perry, who portrayed Chandler Bing in the acclaimed sitcom “Friends,” has died. He was 54. The death was confirmed by Capt. Scot Williams of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide division. He said the cause of death was not likely to be determined for some time, but there was no indication of foul play.
Mr. Perry had a history of addiction and related medical problems that, by his accounting, led him to spend more than half his life in treatment centers or sober living facilities. In a memoir released last year, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” he described his decades of drinking and drug use.
His addiction led to a series of complications in 2018 that included pneumonia, an exploded colon, a brief stint on life support, two weeks in a coma, nine months with a colostomy bag and more than a dozen stomach surgeries.
TMZ reports:
Law enforcement sources tell us the actor was found Saturday at an L.A.-area home where we’re told he appears to have drowned. Our sources say first-responders rushed over on a call for cardiac arrest. It’s unclear where exactly on the grounds this happened.
Our sources say he was found in a jacuzzi at the home and we’re told there were no drugs found at the scene.
We’re told Matthew came home sometime in the AM after a 2-hour round of pickleball, and that he sent his assistant out on errand shortly thereafter. We’re told when the assistant returned about 2 hours later, he discovered Matthew unresponsive and called 911.
Despite Perry’s heavily-publicized history of addiction-related health issues, prominent far-right cultists including Laura Loomer, Stew Peters, and Kandiss “Jesus, Guns, Babies” Taylor quickly flooded social media with claims that Perry was killed by the COVID vaccine, which he had promoted with a “could I be any more vaccinated?” t-shirt.
Breaking News: Matthew Perry, who starred as the witty Chandler Bing in the sitcom “Friends,” has died in Los Angeles. He was 54. https://t.co/vEu8BgLkg7
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 29, 2023