Matthew Perry’s Sister Shares Bittersweet Realization Behind ‘Friends’ Wedding Episode: ‘He Had Wanted That’

Matthew Perry’s sister, Mia Perry Bowick, is opening up about a memorable moment from Friends that holds a bittersweet meaning for their family.

Speaking with People on Wednesday, October 21, Mia said the episode in which Matthew’s character, Chandler Bing, marries Monica Geller was heartbreaking for the family because they didn’t know if they would ever get to see him experience that in real life.

“When we saw that wedding, we all knew that he had wanted that in life; he wanted a partner and he wanted children,” Mia told the outlet.

Matthew struggled with addiction for much of his life. He died in 2023 at age 54 without ever marrying or having children. His death was attributed to the acute effects of ketamine.

“We all knew how serious his disorder was, so there was this sense of, ‘Who knows what’s going to happen?'” Mia added.

Chandler and Monica tied the knot during the season 7 finale of Friends, which aired in 2001.

In Matthew’s 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, the actor revealed that after filming the wedding scene, he was immediately “driven back to the treatment center … in a pickup truck helmed by a sober technician,” according to an excerpt shared by Page Six on October 21.

Matthew had a long dating history, having been romantically linked to Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts in the 1990s. He later dated Mean Girls star Lizzy Caplan from 2006 to 2012. In November 2020, the actor proposed to his then-girlfriend, literary manager Molly Hurwitz, but they called off their engagement six months later.