Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ TV mom Morgan Fairchild reflects on his death 1 year later
Morgan Fairchild is remembering her TV son, Matthew Perry, on the one-year anniversary of his death.
Fairchild, who played the mother to Perry’s Chandler Bing on “Friends,” spoke to The Post about Perry’s passing
“I’ve actually been thinking about it a lot,” Fairchild told The Post.
“Matthew was such a terrific young man. The Matthew I remember was always joyful and kind of frenetic. He had a very frenetic energy that as soon as he came in the room it just boosted you.”
Fairchild made a splash on the first season of “Friends” as Nora Bing, Chandler’s flamboyant romance novelist of a mother who was a perpetual source of embarrassment for her son.
The star recalled that when she came aboard the show, “Friends” was not the hit it would one day be.
Fairchild’s friend and “Dallas” co-star Cicely Tyson even discouraged her from taking the role. “You’re too young to play that guy’s mother!” Fairchild remembered Tyson telling her. “I said, ‘You know, you gotta make that transition at some point. I think the show has potential.’ ”
As it turned out, Fairchild had already met “that guy.”
“The first day on the set, Matthew comes bounding over to me like a big puppy dog and says, ‘You won’t remember me, but you used to hang out with me on ‘Flamingo Road’ and ‘Falcon Crest,’ ” Perry told the actress. Perry’s father, John Bennett Perry, starred on both those ’80s series alongside Fairchild and often brought a young Matthew to work with him.
“’Oh my God! You’re that kid,’” she recalled telling the star. It was at that point Fairchild knew she made the right decision. “He was just always a lot of fun.”
After NBC promoted Fairchild’s appearance on “Friends,” the show enjoyed a ratings bump, something Perry thanked her for in a memorable way.
“I ran into the two Matthews – Perry and [Matt] LeBlanc – at, it was a Blockbuster or something, and they did a ‘sandwich,’ ” she said with a laugh, explaining how the two men hugged her at the same time with her in the middle. She remembered them shouting, “You got us in the top five!”
When asked what she remembers the most about Perry, Fairchild didn’t hesitate: “His wonderful comic timing. He was always fun to work with. He was very creative. He never fell back on doing the same old stuff as you can do when you’re that successful.”
The actress would appear on four more episodes of “Friends” over the show’s 10-year run, including at Chandler and Monica’s [Courteney Cox] wedding.
“Years later, when it came time to do the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, it was so great to see him again,” she said.
“I didn’t know that he might be having trouble. I’m not sure how things were for him at that time,” Fairchild continued, referring to Perry’s struggles with alcohol and addiction. “I never saw any evidence of it on set. I never saw any evidence of problems.”
Reflecting on Perry’s passing, Fairchild was emotional. “Such a waste. Such a lovely human being. Such a sweet man,” she said. “I just always hold on to those earlier memories.”
She added that she finds herself thinking a lot about, “What could’ve been, should’ve been. The career, the life he should still be having.”
Like many, Fairchild was shocked when she learned of the “Whole Nine Yards” star’s death.
“The fact that he had been doing very well [before he died], seemed to have come to some kind of reconciliation with himself…I was kind of caught off guard,” she explained.
“I did know his dad, so you just feel for the family. To have a child so precocious, so fun, so upbeat, and to have gone through this. My heart just goes out to them.”
Fairchild was among many remembering the late star on the anniversary of his death.
His “Friends” co-star Jennifer Aniston took to Instagram to commemorate Perry’s passing.
“1 year,” she wrote, adding a bandaged heart emoji and a dove emoji in the caption to a series of photos of the late actor.
Others who worked with him also shared fond memories of the actor, with one person who worked on the “Friends” 2021 reunion TV special telling The Post, “He was very sweet and silly. Matthew was giggling in between takes. He was so grateful to be a part of the special and that it was even happening.”
Perry’s family also marked the anniversary with remembrances of Matthew.
“[To light up a room is] something you’re born with or you’re not born with. And he was certainly born with it in spades,” Perry’s step-dad and “Dateline” host Keith Morrison, 77, said about his stepson on “Today.”
Perry’s mother, Suzanne, and his sisters, Emily, Caitlin and Madeline, also appeared on the program.
“But it must be said, I think, that he was also very lonely in his soul,” Suzanne contributed. “I’m a very lucky woman, but there was one glitch. There was one problem that I couldn’t conquer. I couldn’t help him.”
Perry passed away Oct. 28, 2023 from a ketamine overdose. He was 54.
A criminal investigation led federal prosecutors to charge five individuals in connection with his death, accusing them of taking advantage of Perry’s addiction and illegally helping him obtain ketamine that led to his death. Three of those charged have taken plea deals and are cooperating with the government. Two others have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
