Sean Penn, who starred on two episodes of Friends in 2001, said the late actor Matthew Perry was a “talented guy,” and said he praised him when they last met.
“I can’t claim to have known him well, but I liked him very much,” Penn said on Wednesday’s episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored. “I saw him somewhat recently, and we were both catching a flight out of Los Angeles airport, and I complimented him on what I knew of his book.”
Perry’s memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, discussed his decades-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.
Penn acknowledged that he “hadn’t read the book,” but said that he’d seen “several” of Perry’s interviews about the work.
“He seemed to be talking about it, had confronted it, and was very intelligent and bold about it. And generously offering his experience to people to be helpful,” he said. “It’s tragic, I can’t say that I was terribly surprised. I don’t know what the whole coroner’s report things and everything, but I know he had done a lot of damage to his organs over the years.”
Penn said Perry left a lasting impact on the world. “He got to leave that tale behind, and he got to give a lot of joy to a lot of people with his talent,” he said. “So, I wish his family well.”
Perry died at age 54 last month at his Pacific Palisades home. An official cause of death has still not been determined.