Credit: Inside the MagicFriends fans and others who loved Matthew Perry have been shocked to hear the amount of money the late actor had in his bank account when he died in October 2023.
A Beloved Actor, A Tragic Death
Actor Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit NBC sitcom Friends was found dead in the hot tub of his Pacific Palisades home on October 28, 2023. Paramedics who arrived on the scene were unable to resuscitate him. Perry was 54.
An autopsy was performed to determine the cause of Perry’s death, and the results were not returned until mid-December when it was discovered that Perry had died from the “acute effects of ketamine,” a powerful dissociative anesthetic drug used to treat depression and anxiety.
Though Perry had been receiving ketamine injection therapy prescribed by his physician, the autopsy report noted that his ketamine levels were higher than expected, especially considering that his last treatment was administered approximately ten days before his death.
Related: Last Home Purchased By Actor Matthew Perry Remains on the Market
A Criminal Probe Begins
In May 2024, authorities announced that a criminal investigation was underway to determine how Perry came into possession of the fatal dose of ketamine.
As part of the investigation, Brooke Mueller, ex-wife of actor Charlie Sheen, has been questioned, and she has since retained the services of a criminal defense attorney. But investigators say that multiple people may be responsible for Perry’s death. Last week, a second celebrity was identified as playing a potential role in Perry’s death, though the star’s identity has yet to be released.
Matthew Perry’s Personal Wealth Revealed
As the investigation continues, information about Matthew Perry’s personal wealth have been revealed.
According to an inventory and appraisal document, which was filed by a trustee of Perry’s estate, Lisa Ferguson, Perry had over $1.5 million in his personal bank account when he died in October.
To be exact, the Friends star had $1,596,914.47 in his account at the time of his death.
Confusion About the Late Actor’s Net Worth
The amount of cash in Perry’s bank account shocked some fans who find it difficult to believe that’s all he had after enjoying such great success from 1994 to 2004, when Friends ran on NBC.
According to Marca, the stars of the show did very well for themselves:
At the height of the show’s success, each main cast member earned a staggering $1 million per episode. Perry, through his role as Chandler Bing, earned approximately $90 million from the base salary alone, not accounting for syndication royalties, which reportedly amounted to $10-20 million annually.
The revelation is extremely confusing as Perry’s estimated net worth at the time of his death stood at approximately $120 million.
But there’s a reason that things don’t seem to line up.
Matthew Perry Planned Ahead
The late star placed the remainder of his assets in a $1 million living trust in 2009.
Perry called the trust the Alvy Singer Living Trust. It was named for Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” character. Lisa Ferguson, who filed the appraisal document, along with Robin Ruzan, are listed as co-executors of Perry’s estate.
In the living trust, Matthew Perry named his mother, Suzanne Morrison, and his father, John Perry, as beneficiaries of his will along with his half-sister, Caitlin Morrison, and his ex-girlfriend Rachel Dunn. Perry was never married and never had any children.
The Quest to Find Sobriety
In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry was candid about his attempts to find sobriety, revealing that over the course of his lifetime, he had attended more than 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He also said that he had been in rehab 15 separate times, and he had been in detox 65 times.
When it was all said and done, per Perry’s claims in his memoir, the late actor had spent almost $9 million in those attempts. That accounts for part of his fortune.
In 2018, Perry came close to death due to complications related to a gastrointestinal perforation.
“The doctors told my family that I had a 2% chance to live,” Perry recalled in a promotional interview for his book.
“I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs,” Perry said. “That’s called a Hail Mary; no one survives that.”
Perry reportedly finally got sober in 2021.
Perry Laid to Rest
Perry was laid to rest at Forest Lawn cemetery located in the Hollywood Hills in November 2023, shortly after his death.
In attendance at his funeral were his five former Friends co-stars–Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc–as well as his parents, John Perry and Suzanne Morrison, his sisters, his stepfather Keith Morrison, and other friends and family members.
Perry was interred near the graves of actresses Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher in a section of the memorial gardens known as “Sanctuary of Treasured Love.”
Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those affected by the late actor’s passing, especially in light of the ongoing criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.