Matthew Perry Foundation Launched in His Honor to Help Those Battling Addiction

Matthew Perry’s dream of helping others with addiction will live on with a new foundation established in his name.

Perry, who starred as Chandler Bing on “Friends” for 10 seasons, was candid about his addiction and had vowed to aid others on their sobriety journeys.

While promoting his memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” he told the “Q with Tom Power” podcast in 2022, “When I die, I don’t want ‘Friends’ to be the first thing that’s mentioned — I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned. I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that. Addiction is far too powerful for anyone to defeat alone. But together, one day at a time, we can beat it down.”

While Perry, sadly, passed away on October 28, his foundation will carry on his mission. A new website is already accepting donations, and states the foundation “is the realization of Matthew's enduring commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction. It will honor his legacy and be guided by his own words and experiences and driven by his passion for making a difference in as many lives as possible.”

Despite his years-long struggles, “Friends” creator Marta Kauffman told “Today’s” Hoda Kotb that Perry was in a “really good place” when she spoke with him a few weeks ago.

She shared of the conversation, “It was great. He was happy and chipper. He didn’t seem weighed down by anything. He was in a really good place, which is why this seems so unfair.”

Marta later added, “He seemed better than I had seen in a while. I was so thrilled to see that. He was emotionally in a good place, he looked good, he quit smoking… He was sober… He learned things throughout this, and what he learned more than anything is that he wants to help other addicts, and it gave him purpose.”