During a discussion at the LA Times Festival of Books on Saturday, Matthew Perry revealed his intention to remove Reeves’ credit from further editions of his memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” due out in 2022.
Although Perry’s biography is a frank account of his battle with alcohol misuse and addiction, the actor was criticized last year for making some insensitive remarks about Keanu in a passage on his buddy River Phoenix’s death in 1993.
Matthew Perry And Keanu Reeves Controvercy
During an event led by The Times’ deputy arts and entertainment editor Matt Brennan and attended by a sold-out audience at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on Saturday afternoon, Perry announced the change.
Perry admitted that he had said a stupid and mean thing, referring to his lament in the book about the deaths of former co-stars River Phoenix and Chris Farley while Keanu Reeves was still alive. He mentioned that he removed Reeves’ name from the book and had publicly apologized. He put in his name because that’s came right into his mind as he lived on the same street as him.
“I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do. I pulled his name because I live on the same street. I’ve apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it.”
He said that although he had not apologized to Keanu Reeves in person yet, he would apologize if he ever ran into him, as he recognized that his comment was just stupid.
“If I run into the guy, I’ll apologize. It was just stupid.”
Matthew Perry’s Words About Reeves In His Memoir
Perry’s book, which was released last year, detailed his lifelong battle with drug misuse and addiction.
His co-star from the 1988 movie A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, Phoenix, is praised as a genius who was “way ahead of his time” in the piece.
“River was a beautiful man, inside and out – too beautiful for this world, it turned out. It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down,” Matthew Perry wrote in his work. “Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”
In a statement to People from October 2022, Matthew Perry apologized for the remark, explaining that he is a “big fan” of Keanu Reeves and that he had just picked a “random name” in the writing. “I apologize. I should have used my own name instead,” he said.
Perry’s Drug Addiction
Following his 1997 jet ski accident, Perry developed a Vicodin addiction and went through a 28-day rehabilitation program to overcome it. Over the following years, he had extreme swings in his weight, dropping below 145 pounds (66 kg) at one point. Due to pancreatitis, he dropped 20 pounds (9.1 kg) in 2000.
In February of 2001, he checked himself into rehab once again for treatment of his Vicodin, methadone, amphetamine, and alcohol dependence.
He was in Texas shooting Serving Sara when he had terrible stomach problems and was sent to the Daniel Freeman Hospital in Marina del Rey, Los Angeles.
Lisa Kasteler, Perry’s spokesperson, has verified his time in treatment. He claims to have spent almost $9,000,000 on his sobriety. Addiction problems led to amnesia during the three years he was performing on Friends, he has said.
Perry traveled to Capitol Hill in 2011 to advocate for drug court funding as a celebrity ambassador for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy honored Perry as a Champion of Recovery in May 2013 for his efforts in establishing Perry House, a sober living facility at his former Malibu, California, residence. In 2015, Perry closed the rehabilitation program and sold the house. His sobriety began in May of 2021 and continues to this day.
