While Matthew Perry’s loved ones are still grieving, they are turning his death into a legacy of helping others – KION546

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Matthew Perry often talked about how much he wanted to help people. A year later deaththose who loved him heal with that same feeling at the forefront.

“It’s been hard on everyone,” Perry’s sister, Caitlin Morrison, told CNN in a recent interview.

Morrison, the daughter of Suzanne Morrison and Perry’s stepfather, “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison, is the executive director of the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada, which launched just last week.

Helping others struggling with addiction was the actor’s dream. Now those who knew him best are working to make his wish a reality in his absence.

Matthew Perry Foundation in Canada focuses on providing housing, mental health, career and financial support to people in the first year of recovery as they navigate what Morrison described as a “very uncertain period of early sobriety,” which she said Perry also struggled with.

“I remember him saying several times that that first year was just an incredible beast. There were so many obstacles and difficulties,” he recalls. “We thought it would be exactly something that would tie into what he wanted to do, which was to say, ‘Well, let’s help people.’ Let us help people overcome this obstacle that was so high and so difficult to overcome when he first fought his battle.”

Perry’s mother, longtime friend Brian Murray and Cara Vaccarino, president and CEO of Canadian mental health research firm The Royal, are also involved with the organization.

Morrison said engaging in the task helped her heal.

“If the work I do now saves my family from feeling like this, it will be a relief to my sadness,” she added.

“It continues to play a key role in our lives.”

Perry is best known for playing a smart and likable man Chandler Bing in “Friends” alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc from 1994 to 2004. He also played Oscar Madison in the 2015 reboot of “The Odd Couple” and has appeared in films including “17 Again,” “The Whole Nine Yards” and “Fools Rush In,” among others.

His playstyle tended towards the deliriously funny, but he could morph into vulnerable human with charming ease. It was always his own and unique.

Behind the scenes, he struggled with addiction, which he described in his 2022 hearing “Friends, Lovers and the Big Scary Thing.” By speaking publicly, Perry sought to bring comfort and healing to those struggling with the same adversities as him.

Perry died at his home in Pacific Palisades in October 2023. He was 54 years old.

According to the Los Angeles Office of the Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, his death was the result of “acute ketamine exposure” followed by drowning.

Since then there have been five people accused in connection with his death.

Three of the five defendants have agreed to plea agreements, and the remaining two intend to enter plea agreements test this spring.

In November 2023, days after Perry’s death, Lisa Kasteler and Doug Chapin – his former longtime publicist and manager, respectively – founded Matthew Perry Foundation in California. Chapin jokingly calls it “the last order we received from our customer.”

“And we implemented it immediately,” he said.

The organization is sponsored and maintained by the National Philanthropic Trust, which helps the Matthew Perry Foundation provide resources and funding to West Coast organizations fighting addiction in their communities.

Chapin and Kasteler said stigma played a role in the challenges Perry faced in his recovery journey, and fighting that stigma is one of their main goals.

“I know if Matthew wasn’t ashamed, he would be here,” Kasteler said. “If we do nothing but get rid of the stigma around this, because it leads to a lot of other things, I will be happy.”

Kasteler – who lovingly described Perry as her “favorite” client – planned to do just that depart after a decades-long career at leading PR agency Wolf Kasteler before Perry’s death. He currently serves as the foundation’s executive director. Chapin is the president of the foundation’s board.

Acknowledging how rare it is in the entertainment industry to have such a long-lasting, deeply personal relationship with a client, both Kasteler and Chapin said their continued work with the foundation throughout the past year has helped keep Perry close to their hearts.

“Retiring didn’t really work out,” Kasteler said. “But that’s okay, because I think it’s the most important work I’ve ever done.”

Added Chapin: “He still feels alive in many ways. It still plays a key role in our lives and we still work for it. This keeps him alive. It’s something that helps in these difficult days.”

“Enjoy every moment”

Many of Perry’s former colleagues have openly admitted their regrets.

His Friends co-stars released a statement in the days after his death, but individually they continue to express the pain of his absence.

In tribute last year, Aniston wrote: “Being able to truly SIT in grief allows us to experience moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone so deeply. And we loved him very much.”

His friends from “Friends” weren’t the only ones. Throughout his career, Perry has been part of several bands.

In a recent interview with CNN, Yvette Nicole Brown, who starred with Perry and Thomas Lennon in “The Odd Couple,” remembered Perry as an “open book” whose loss taught her to “cherish every moment.”

“You don’t know when you last talked to someone,” she said. “This is the biggest lesson for him.”

While Brown admired Perry as a professional, she admitted she was also a fan. At the beginning of their time on set, she tried to contain her excitement and only looked Perry in the eye when she had to. Perry got it.

“He said, ‘Yvette, come on. It’s me. We are here together,” he recalls. “He was very aware – and not from a cocky or arrogant perspective – of his influence (and) he wanted people to feel comfortable. Above all, Matthew wanted people to feel comfortable.”

Perry always cared about people and wanted them to be okay, Brown said — whether they were stars or strangers navigating their own path through addiction.

“That’s why I still agree to talk about him, because I don’t want anything else that comes out in this salacious space to overshadow his heart, his kindness and his friendship,” she said. “The circumstances of his departure and the people who had a hand in it should not be the last word on who he was as a person. He was so much more, so much more.”