The Sad Truth About Matthew Perry's Childhood

Following Matthew Perry's tragic and untimely death, many of his devoted fans are taking the time to look back at the talented actor's life as a child — way before he became a household name. "He's one of those people who always is the center of the room for a reason, and it was so as a kid," Perry's famous stepfather, Dateline NBC correspondent Keith Morrison, once recalled to People. "He's an intense, talented, focused character. He's very bright. That was always the case as he was growing up," he added.

Sadly, however, Perry's childhood wasn't exactly picture-perfect. In fact, at times, it was downright heartbreaking. "I looked at the book, and I was just like, this guy has had like the most torturous life. I can't believe it. And then I realized it was me that I was talking about," he joked to host Tom Power while doing press for his 2022 memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing." Here's the sad truth about Perry's childhood. 

Sadly, one of Matthew Perry's earliest memories is that of living life as a child of divorce. In his memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," Perry opened up about his parent's split and its impact on him. While Perry was careful to note that his famous father, John Bennett Perry, "became a wonderful father" later in life, he minced no words regarding his father's initial decision to desert him and his mother, Suzanne Perry (née Langford).

The story goes that when Perry was only nine months old, John Perry left his infant son and 21-year-old wife to pursue an acting career in California. "My father took me out of my car seat, handed me into my grandfather's arms, and, with that, he quietly abandoned me and my mother," Perry penned in the confines of his candid memoir. 

Eventually, Perry's father did carve out an illustrious career for himself. Sadly, however, that didn't alleviate Perry's pain due to his absence. "I saw his face more often on TV or in magazines than I did in reality," he wrote.

Matthew Perry learned how to travel on planes at a very young age as he split time between his two parents — one residing in Canada and the other in California. Perry recalled during an interview with People in 2022 how he was put on a plane from Montreal to Los Angeles by himself at only five years old. "I was terrified," he confessed. "My feet didn't even touch the floor. And then when I saw the lights of the city, I knew we were landing, that my dad was going to pick me up, and I'd have a parent again."

But by the age of 15, Perry resolved to move to sunny California with his dad once and for all in an effort to get to know him. "I felt like I hadn't spent any time with my father, and wanted to," he told BuzzFeed about the decision in 2015. But the cherry on top? Just like his dad, he also managed to carve out a successful acting career for himself while there.

Following his father's abrupt move to California in search of acting gigs, Matthew Perry and his mother, Suzanne Perry (née Langford), were left to pick up the pieces. "Mom and I were both abandoned, in fact, before we'd even gotten the chance to know each other," he wrote in his memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing." Perry described himself as a "latchkey kid" and said his single mother was often distracted and stressed due to the nature of her job as Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's press secretary. Perry wrote that he often resorted to making her laugh to grab her attention. "I learned to be funny (pratfalls, quick one-liners, you know the drill) because I had to be," he wrote. "And me being funny tended to calm her down enough that she would cook some food, sit down at the dinner table with me, and hear me out, after I heard her out, of course."

Alas, Suzanne wasn't a single mother for long. In 1981, she wed Keith Morrison. Perry was 12 years old at the time. And while he is adamant that he and his stepfather had an excellent relationship, he still often felt himself vying for his mother's attention. "All I wanted was for her to turn around and, you know, focus on me and like be with me," he confessed during an interview with Tom Power. "And uh, she never really did that."

Perhaps one of the ways in which Matthew Perry was able to steal his mother's attention back, even if for only a brief moment, was by beating up her boss's son. Yep, that's right. During a 2017 appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Perry confessed that while in the fifth grade, he and a childhood friend beat up the then-Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's son and future Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. "We both beat him up. I think he was excelling in a sport that we weren't, so it was pure jealousy," Perry divulged. "I think he was the only kid in school that we could beat up ... I'm not bragging about this. This is terrible. I was a stupid kid. I didn't want to beat him up," he recalled.

Sometime after the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" episode aired, Justin Trudeau took a moment to joke about the schoolyard brawl on X (formerly known as Twitter) and even proposed a rematch. Perry, however, graciously declined. "I think I will pass at your request for a rematch kind sir (given that you currently have an army at your disposal)," the famous "Friends" star tweeted back. 

Alas, Matthew Perry's schoolyard fight with Justin Trudeau paled in comparison to the trouble that lay ahead of him. While promoting his memoir, Perry revealed in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer that he was only 14 years old the first time he got drunk from an entire bottle of Baby Duck wine. "I lay in the grass and was in heaven," he recalled. "I thought to myself, 'This must be the way normal people feel all the time.'" According to Perry, even from his very first encounter with alcohol, he knew it somehow affected him differently. "I just knew I had some issue with this thing," he confessed to host Tom Power in 2022. "And it's a progressive disease, so it gets worse and worse as you get older," he explained. And that it did.

Perry estimated in his no-holds-barred book that he had spent nearly $7 million and entered rehab 15 times while trying to get sober from drugs and alcohol. Perry was adamant, however, that the most surprising part of his addiction journey was his resilience. "The way that I can bounce back from all of this torture and awfulness. Wanting to tell the story, even though it's a little scary to tell all your secrets in a book, I didn't leave anything out. Everything's in there," he declared during an interview with People. RIP Matthew Perry.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).