Matthew Perry’s stepfather Keith Morrison, an award-winning correspondent for Dateline NBC said his stepson “felt like he was beating” his struggles with addiction and “it’s not easy” coping with the grief, BBC reported. 

While speaking to NBC’s Today presenter Hoda Kotb on her Making Spaces podcast, he said Mr Perry “didn’t get to have his third act, and that’s not fair”. 

“He was goofy. He was funny. He was acerbic. But even if he didn’t say a word, he was the centre of attention,” Mr Morrison added. 

Mr Morrison married Mr Perry’s mother in 1981, he said the actor felt he was in a good place shortly before his death after long periods of drug and alcohol addiction.

“He felt like he was beating it,” he said. “But you never beat it, and he knew that, too.

“That’s a whirlwind of a life – to get involved in a programme that became as wildly successful as it was, to be fighting an addiction that was so virulent, that went after him so hard.”

Mr Morrison said that the grief continues to be difficult to cope with after Perry died at the end of last October at the age of 54.

“It’s with you every day,” he said. “It’s with you all the time and there’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain. It’s not easy.”

Morrison added he and Perry were “chalk and cheese” but “we got along fine”.

“I was there for him, and he knew it,” he added.

Matthew Perry who was best known for playing ‘Chandler Bing’ in Friends was tragically found dead at his home in Los Angeles in October last year. He was 54. First responders found Mr Perry unconscious in a hot tub at his house and were unable to revive him. 

The report said Perry’s death was an accident from the “acute effects” of ketamine. He was said to have been using infusion therapy for depression and anxiety with his last treatment more than a week before his death.

Matthew Perry, the actor best known for playing the role of Chandler Bing in the sitcom ‘Friends’ died at the age of 54 in Los Angeles on October 28. He was found unconscious in a hot tub and the first responders were unable to revive him. As per reports, the actor was playing pickleball shortly before his demise. Mr Perry’s pickleball coach has now revealed that the actor was “doing really well” before his death. He also used the sport as a means to help others who were staying at the rehabilitation centre he had established.

Matt Manasse spoke to People Magazine and said, “He was doing an awesome job. He loved it. He came out five times a week, would always talk about it. (He) got so much better, always made everyone laugh. He was competitive, just a genuine, good guy – caring for everybody. Pickleball was his outlet. He really looked forward to it. He was a competitive guy, not in a bad way at all…When he hit an unbelievable shot, he would tell you about it for days.”

“He thought it was something that could help with his recovery,” the coach said, talking about the actor’s struggles with drug abuse. Mr Perry battled for years with addiction to painkillers and alcohol and attended rehabilitation clinics on multiple occasions. The actor detailed his addiction to Vicodin following a jet ski accident in 1997, admitting that he was taking up to 55 pills a day at one point.

“He had so much that he was doing with his rehab facility and trying to get people clean. He would bring them to teach them pickleball. He was just always trying to help people,” Mr Manasse added.

Mr Manasse highlighted that he was always there to support him and would often say, “Whatever you need. Anything you need, I’m there for you.” The 35-year-old coach told the outlet, “That was just the kind of guy he was. We went to dinner together. I was over at his place for the Super Bowl. He cared about other people. He was a really good person.”

The coach, who last spoke to his buddy “Matty” a week before his death, says he wants people to know that the actor was “a guy who wanted to help people and was selfless.” “He cared about everyone – your day was better when you saw him or when he called. He never missed an opportunity for a funny joke to make you laugh. Just a genuinely amazing person. Everyone should know he had a heart of gold,” he concluded.