Matthew Perry struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for decades, and had long dreamed of starting an organization to destigmatize substance abuse disorder and help those seeking treatment. After he died in 2023, Perry’s former publicist and manager both took up the torch, launching the Matthew Perry Foundation the same year. Now, the actor’s legacy has reached all the way to Montargis, France, where it helped a group of 12th graders express their new understanding of addiction through art.
Earlier this year, English teacher Rose-Elisa Morin used Perry’s story, along with resources from the foundation, to teach a unit on the opioid crisis in the U.S. As he detailed in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry became addicted to prescription painkillers following a 1997 jet skiing accident. The difficulties that ensued, including 15 trips to rehab and a gastrointestinal perforation caused by opioid abuse, ultimately fostered his desire to make a positive impact on others like him.
“He was always, throughout even his worst times, very helpful and engaged with other people,” his former manager, Doug Chapin, recently told The Guardian. “They would come to him because he had so much experience with the disease [and treatment] that he knew a million avenues to suggest.”
As Perry explained in a 2022 interview with People, he hoped readers of his book would take away a deeper understanding of addiction — namely that “this disease attacks everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re successful or not successful, the disease doesn’t care.” He added: “Everything starts with sobriety. Because if you don’t have sobriety, you’re going to lose everything that you put in front of it.”
These messages hit home in Morin’s classroom. She instructed her students to create a piece of work — such as a letter, poem, or drawing — either paying tribute to Perry or illustrating how they could help combat addiction. And the teenagers delivered. Eva drew a sketch of Batman, a character Perry famously felt connected to, who simultaneously answered the prompt and referenced Friends by saying in a text bubble: “So what would I do? I’ll be there for you.”
Another student, Soraya Cassandre, detailed her thoughts in an illustrated page with the words “One day at a time,” an Alcoholics Anonymous motto, in the margin. “We can warn people our age of the reality behind the addiction through social medias, then make them realize it’s not just an addiction, but a real never-ending cycle (if the issues is not talked about and treated),” she wrote, “and if they are already struggling with those addictions, we can show them the importance of not being alone, that solidarity is crucial.”
Morin’s class is just one way the foundation has made a positive impact. Through its Grassroots Recovery Grants program, it provides financial assistance to organizations helping those with substance abuse disorders. In September, it also hosted its first Annual Matthew Perry Foundation Summit on Addiction and Recovery in Los Angeles to unite community leaders committed to fighting addiction — and last fall, the nonprofit partnered with the NHL to help fund recovery services across the country.
And for each person reached, whether in a classroom or through a local organization, Perry’s legacy lives on. “We’re doing what Matthew wanted,” Lisa Kasteler-Calio, the actor’s former publicist who now serves as the foundation’s CEO, told The Guardian. “He said it over and over: I want to help as many people as possible. Of course, we wish we were doing this with him. I miss him like crazy, but the best thing that we can do is just keep doing this work.”
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