In a recent interview on “Friends”. Matthew Perry expressed regret for his comments about a colleague Keanu Reeves in his memoir, asking why he’s still alive, discussing the tragic deaths of other actors like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger.
However, Perry has now announced that she will remove these offensive comments from her memoir and apologize to Reeves in person if she can meet him in person.
Read on to learn more.
Matthew Perry faces backlash for mocking Keanu Reeves
Friends star Matthew Perry faced backlash last year after releasing his memoir, Friends, lovers, and something big scary. The book largely revolves around Perry’s struggle with opioid addiction and his road to recovery, which nearly cost him his life at the age of 49 when he ruptured his colon due to a drug overdose.
Unfortunately, Perry’s memoir also included some controversial comments about Matrix star Keanu Reeves. in excerpts from the published book The Sunday TimesPerry fired back at Reeves, saying: “Why do people like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die and Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”
This backhanded comment caught Reeves off guard, with sources close to the actor claiming he thought it was; “Out of Left Field.”
Matthew Perry says he will apologize to Keanu Reeves
in the statement addressed to People magazine In October 2022, Perry apologized for his comment, saying that he had just chosen a random name for the prose and that he was a “huge fan” of Reeves. “I apologize. I should have used my name instead,” he announced.
In his last speech at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival, Perry again expressed regret. The 53-year-old apologized for the jibe and announced that he had removed Reeves’ name from future editions of his memoir.
Perry admitted that it was wrong to refer to the “John Wick” star in such a way and admitted that she declined to comment because she lives near Reeves. He clarified according to Insider, “I said something stupid. It was a mean business. I pulled his name because I live on the same street. I publicly apologized to him. His name will not appear in future versions of the book.” The “Friends” student also expressed his desire to personally apologize to Reeves, saying: “If I meet that guy, I’ll apologize. It was just stupid.”
Matthew Perry says he wants to be remembered as a guy who “lived life”.
In her speech, Perry also shared that she tried to avoid criticizing anyone while writing her autobiography. The actor emphasized that the purpose of the book is not to call out or target anyone, stating:
He explained that he doesn’t want to blame anyone in particular for the struggles discussed in the book, which include his battle with opioid addiction. Perry said: “I’ve been in therapy since I was 18. I wanted to make sure that this is not a book where I blame people for their mistakes. You have to give them credit for the things they did right.”
The Whole Nine Yards actor also said he would like to be remembered as a guy who lived life, loved well, lived well and helped people. Running into me was a good thing, not a bad thing.’
His struggle with drug abuse
during the interview with New York Times In 2022, the “Fools Rush In” actor opened up about his long battle with drug abuse. He revealed that his addiction began in his teenage years with alcohol before progressing to more complex substances such as Vicodin, OxyContin and Xanax.
To feed his addiction, Perry admitted to seeing eight doctors at the same time to get multiple prescriptions for the same drugs. The actor also shared that he “probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober.”
However, his decades of drug abuse came to a head in 2018 when he was hospitalized with pneumonia, a ruptured colon and other serious health issues. After spending two weeks in a coma and nine months in a colostomy bag, she underwent more than a dozen stomach surgeries.
Perry wrote her memoir as part of her recovery and said the emotions “poured out of me — painful things, hospitals, rehab, all of it; they poured out of me. It went by fast.”