Matthew Perry | Stepfather of the late actor discusses his death - “It’s with you all the time”

Keith Morrison, the stepfather of the late “Friends” actor Matthew Perry, in a recent episode of Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast, opened up about the death of his stepson five months after the actor’s death from the acute effects of ketamine. Morrison married Perry’s mother, Suzanne, in 1981.

Morrison revealed that Perry’s death has taken a toll on not only himself but also Perry’s mother, revealing “It’s as other people have told me hundreds of times. It doesn’t go away yet. It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time.”

“There’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain, and it’s not easy, especially for his mom. I don’t think I’m giving away too much if I say that toward the end of his life, they were closer than I had seen them for decades, and texting each other constantly and him sharing things with her that most middle-aged men don’t share with their mothers”

The discussion on the podcast then moved to the shock of Perry’s death, with many of Perry’s friends including “Friends” cast member Jennifer Anniston noting that in his final months, the actor seemed happy and content. 

“He said so, and he hadn’t said that for a long time,” Morrison said. “It’s a source of comfort, but also, he didn’t get to have his third act, and that’s not fair. And as he said himself, ‘If I suddenly died, people would be shocked, but not too many people would be surprised.’ And he was right.”

“[I] still feel the echo of it everywhere around here.”

The death of Friends star Matthew Perry was been ruled an accident from the “acute effects of ketamine”, the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner confirmed. Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the hit US sitcom, was found “unresponsive in the pool at his residence” on October 28 before he was pronounced dead at the age of 54.