Minnie Driver and Matthew Perry on March 10, 2002.Photo:Vince Bucci/Getty
Vince Bucci/Getty
Minnie Driveris rememberingMatthew Perryas someone who lifted others up despite pain he was going through.
The two actors starred together onstage 20 years ago, in a London production ofDavid Mamet’sSexual Perversity in Chicago.
In a recent essay forThe Guardian, Driver, 53, said she’d met Perry, whodied in October, before that stage show. They grew closer during their rehearsals for the play, during which time Perry met Driver and her family for lunch.
“The restaurant put us in the back away from people, but when he walked in … the whole place lit up. The whole placesmiled,” she wrote.
But theFriendsactor also faced"struggles with addiction,“as Driver noted, which were chronicled in part in his 2022 memoirFriends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
“I found it incredibly hard to read and had to put it down and pick it up again — it felt unbearable, how much he suffered,” she wrote.
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Matthew Perry and Minnie Driver perform in “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” at the Comedy Theatre in London.rune hellestad/Corbis via Getty
rune hellestad/Corbis via Getty
Driver went on to recall that theFools Rush Inactor “had been in a good place when we were doing the play, but the thing about him was he was like a light. He was one of those people who just made other people feel good.”
“Somehow, they don’t suck you down into their sadness or their pain, and I know now that his pain was great,” said theGood Will Huntingactress.
Driver said she and Perry, who later wrote and starred in the playThe End of Longingon London’s West End in 2016, ran into each other from time to time over the years sinceSexual Perversity in Chicago, and that she last saw him during his 2022 book tour.
Perry died Oct. 28 at his Los Angeles home. He was 54. A spokesperson from the Los Angeles Fire Department told PEOPLE at the time that they’d responded to a call at 4:07 p.m. that cited a “medical emergency.”
Matthew Perry in London on Feb. 8, 2016.Dave Benett/Getty
Dave Benett/Getty
Last week, an autopsy report revealed the actordied due to acute effects of ketamine. Drowning, coronary artery disease and effects of buprenorphine (a medication used to treat opioid use disorder) were also listed as contributing factors in his death, which was ruled accidental.
Perry was long vocal about his struggle with addiction. In his memoir, he recounted his journey to sobriety — and the pride ofstaying clean, which he’d reportedly been for 19 monthsbefore he died.
“I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side again,” he told PEOPLE at the time for a 2022 cover story. “I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease ofalcoholismand addiction — to write it all down. I was pretty certain that it would help people if I did.”
Driverpaid tribute toher former colleague and friend shortly after his death, sharing how “kind” and “funny” the late actor was during their time working together.
“I think you’d finally found peace in your life. I will remember just how much we laughed when we worked together, and how kind and incredibly funny you were,” the actresswrote on Instagramat the time, adding, “Rest in peace, rise in glory.”
source: people.com
