This is not the first time that we have voluntarily indulged in a show that we know will break our heart by the minute.
Anything about the beloved FRIENDS star Matthew Perry, the inimitable Chandler Bing, is risky territory. This isn’t about testing the waters. We know the funniest man alive also had the hardest life to live. And every time we got off the set of FRIENDS, the echoes of the live audience’s laughter still ricocheted off the walls of Stages 5 AND 24 at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank.
The One About Matthew Perry is a three-part docuseries by Netflix, directed and executive produced by Mary Robertson, alongside executive producers Lisa Kalikow, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman from Maxine Productions (Sony Pictures Television). The project, however, does not include any of the other five cast members of the iconic FRIENDS cast and Matthew Perry’s friends-turned-family: Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), David Schwimmer (Ross Geller) and, of course, Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing).
The actor was found dead in his LA apartment. The autopsy report suspected an overdose involving ketamine shots, and they were allegedly administered by none other than Matthew Perry and his family’s most trusted confidant, his personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa
As the documentary reveals, Matthew Perry’s fight against drug addiction and alcoholism involved as many as 30 years of therapy, 15 stints in rehab and $7 million spent, as mentioned in his book.
But amid all the storms that Matthew Perry could not escape in the 54 years that he lived, there is one solid gut punch.
Divided across three episodes, each around an hour long, The One About Matthew Perry brings together the people who knew him best and saw the best in him.
His closest friends, most importantly his sister Bowick, tell stories and let fans peek into the life of Matthew Perry, the person he was before stardom arrived with FRIENDS in 1994.
A lot of Matthew Perry’s abandonment issues and struggles with loneliness also stemmed from a very disturbed childhood. His parents, Suzanne Marie Morrison and John Bennett Perry, separated before he was even a year old. Perry shuttled between Canada, where he stayed with his mother, and LA, where his father resided, though the actor shares how he mostly saw his father on television.
Mia Perry Bowick, who is a large part of this docuseries and shares anecdotes from her time with Perry, is the daughter of actor John Bennett Perry and his second wife, Debbie Boyle. If you watched Robert Palumbo’s documentary Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy released in 2025, you’ll know this one is 10 times more painful to watch. More so because it is a deeper dive into how Matthew Perry’s closest friends stood by him in his fight for sobriety, while those closest to him ultimately pushed him towards his death.
The documentary is a treat for fans as the first episode largely covers how Matthew Perry became Chandler Bing. As has been said in scores of interviews by the star himself and his colleagues, that role was tailor-made for him.
The quirks, the wit, the backhanded jokes, it was instant, it was who Matthew Perry was.
He had only one dream: to be famous. That’s all he manifested and wished for. And somehow the universe made it happen through FRIENDS.
As you hear many snippets from his life outside FRIENDSyou realise this man was surrounded by an abundance of love and support. To see him in the throes of such a drowning addiction, one that he fought his entire life to overcome, is the kind of struggle no artist should have to endure.
The makers do a stellar job for FRIENDS fans, ensuring those tissues come in handy as they intersperse interviews with Matthew Perry’s friends and family alongside montages from some of Chandler Bing’s most hilarious moments in FRIENDS.
Matthew Perry was, in many ways, like Chandler Bing off camera, which is why even the producers and stars behind the scenes reveal in this documentary how the FRIENDS star had the ability to make Chandler Bing belong as much to the writers as he did to himself.
The trick was simple. He simply wanted to make everyone laugh. But his biggest enemy was his chemical dependency and alcoholism, which only worsened over time. Matthew Perry had his first drink at 14 and it filled him with inexplicable euphoria. The thought that consumed him was that this must be how normal people feel all the time.
Despite his enormous success, Matthew Perry was always anxious about what came next. Would this stardom last? Would any of this last? What came after this?
During the decade in which FRIENDS became a phenomenon, Matthew Perry rose brick by brick, frame by frame. From projects like Fools Rush In and more, he was the apple of everyone’s eye. It was after FRIENDS concluded that, whether it was writing or starring in something new, Matthew Perry kept hitting rock bottom.
But what made him great was that he never stopped trying. As his sister, heartbroken yet composed while recounting her experiences, shares throughout the documentary.
The viewer’s heart irrevocably goes out to Matthew’s sister and his FRIENDS family. As his sister shares the exact moment she learned of his death, it feels like a truck hit her.
Some of the most endearing moments in the documentary come when Matthew Perry’s on-screen love interest in FRIENDS, Courteney Cox, who played Monica Geller, speaks so lovingly about him. The chemistry was undeniable. Little snippets of their interviews from the set, along with glimpses of the reunion, bring tears of joy as they remind us of everything this man gave us. But more importantly, everything that life took away from him.
His sister also reveals that the Chandler-Monica wedding episode was especially heartfelt. What fans felt off screen was very much present during Chandler’s vows. There was a lot of platonic love, and it shone through.
The fact that the actor often spoke about wanting a partner and a family but never quite finding them shows just how much of a Chandler Bing he was off screen.
His former girlfriends also come forward to share their memories of Matthew Perry in this documentary, giving the project even more depth. It offers so much more insight into one of the most loved actors and characters of all time, beyond the show that completely defined him.
There’s a particular moment in the documentary where Matthew’s sister reveals how the FRIENDS cast came together at the funeral, stood holding hands around Matthew’s casket and simply cried. Wept. Because that was all there was left to do.
Behind all the laughs, they had all witnessed Matthew Perry’s incessant struggle with addiction. Productions had to be halted as he went in and out of rehab. His dramatic fluctuations in weight were visible to viewers as the seasons progressed, particularly between Seasons 5 and 7 when he struggled the most.
As Matthew Perry himself says, “Detox is real hell.”
The actor had once jokingly said that there would be a world in which he died, and that it would be shocking but not surprising. And it further shatters you to think about how hard he tried to get better, and how much of that time he knew death was near.
His last Instagram post showed him enjoying the very jacuzzi in which he would drown days later. But even while leaving, he ensured his sister had one last laugh, as she recalls a very personal moment she shared with him in spirit.
The One About Matthew Perry is strictly for FRIENDS fans. Because no one else would embark on this journey of wanting to know him and understand what he fought for. He wrote a book titled Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thingattended as many therapy sessions as he could, and did everything in his power to help people in the same boat. And until his very last breath, and even now, years after he left, it all counts.
All we are left with is the hope that he is still not taking advice too seriously, and can still interest us with a sarcastic comment.
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