“I had been given a glimpse of what life could be by God.” Actor Matthew Perry of Friends passes away at 54.

Star of the hit sitcom “Friends” in the 1990s, Matthew Perry, passed away at the age of 54 from a hot tub drowning. While conducting an investigation, police do not believe foul play.

Perry had been transparent about his battles with prescription drug and alcohol addiction, which were mostly concealed from the public during the first season of the show. In “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” his memoir, he described a transformative spiritual experience that helped him stay sober for a considerable amount of time afterward.

High-profile individuals and other celebrities expressed their sorrow upon hearing of Perry’s death, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called his demise “shocking and saddening.” On X, Trudeau stated that he would always remember the games they used to play in the schoolyard and that people would always remember the happiness he brought to them.

From 1994 to 2004, the highly popular television series “Friends” aired for ten seasons, making Matthew and his co-stars permanent celebrities. They portrayed a close-knit group of young adults who socialised at a made-up Manhattan cafe called “Central Perk” as well as at each other’s apartments. One of the main plots featured a covert romance between Chandler and Cox’s character Monica Geller, which the other four friends found out about one by one. The pair eventually married.

At its peak of popularity, the show was the most watched prime-time television programme in the United States, and each actor received $1 million per episode.