When I first heard that Mathew Perry was going to publish a memoir I knew I wanted to read it. I loved watching Friends and Chandler was by far my favourite. Other than Friends I only knew Mathew Perry from Mr. Sunshine and the occasional guest appearances (e.g. The West Wing, Cougar Town, etc.) and I don’t remember ever watching any of his films.
Still, I was interested in reading it, even after seeing some very bad reviews on this sub, and I had it on my reading list for a while. When I heard he died I knew I had to get the audiobook and listen to him narrate it. It was weird to hear his voice so different that what I was used to from Friends and at times I found it a bit hard to follow his story since he was jumping from time period to time period but all n’ all I found it to be very very interesting, moving and sad.
In a way (even though he wasn’t as huge a comedic genious) I felt a very strong similiarity between his story and that of the amazing Robin Williams. Both were very funny and very popular and despite that both were very insecure and that led them to womenizing and alcohol/drug addiction.
I think his story was both interesing and sad. It was very moving when sometimes you could hear him choke up a little while narrating. I’m sure it was very difficult to relive all those terrible moments.
The biggest shame was when he mentioned he was 53 and looking forward to living a better life and knowing that in less than a year he’d actually die.
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I am a 32 year old man who has struggled with hard drug abuse since 14 I went to rehab 14 times in 3 and a half years and I finally just next week will celebrate 16 months of sobriety my longest ever and I truly mean this from the bottom of my heart the last thing I read in rehab before making the decision to finally live my life sober and recovering was his book it meant so much to me and truly helped change my life rip Matthew perry
I couldn’t even finish the book… it didn’t shed a good light on him tbh
I just read the news recently. I wanted to buy the book but after reading your review I won’t. I am not into reading sad stories now. But he was the best, no doubt about it.
Both, Mathew Perry and Robbie Williams place the reason for their addictions on everybody else , except themselves. Sorry but their memories are very selective and egocentric.
I read his book a while ago, and while there were a few cringe spots, my impression was that he was baring his soul while still trying to make everyone laugh. It was an uncomfortable thing to read. But mostly I felt very sorry for him, he seemed like one of the loneliest people I’ve ever “met”. He was so aware that he SHOULD have been happy ( he had everything!) but he was so alone. The fact that he died alone makes me so sad.
I mentioned in one of the many posts shortly after his death that he probably had a lonely life and died alone and it was sad. Got downvoted to oblivion. Sorry if no one liked that reality but unfortunately that’s where he was at the end of his life.
Unfortunately, middle-aged men drop dead all the time.
It’s not really unusual, but because of his past lifestyle and him being famous, we think it’s shocking.
Not really.
Middle aged men shouldn’t drop dead all the time, though. If you’re not shocked every single time, there’s something wrong.