Matthew Perry Planned To Start A Foundation To Help People With Substance Abuse: Report

Matthew Perry, known for his iconic character Chandler Bing in the superhit sitcom Friends, died on October 28, leaving his fans across the world shocked and heartbroken. The actor, in an interview last year, spoke about how he wanted to be remembered after his death. The actor stated that he wanted to be remembered for something beyond his fame as Chandler Bing. He had also hoped to continue helping people who suffered from substance abuse. 

Now, according to a report by People, the actor was making plans to establish a foundation to help those struggling with addiction issues. He was in the initial phases of setting up a foundation similar to Betty Ford's Foundation near Palm Springs. 

Those close to Mr Perry still hope to bring his foundation to fruition in his honour.

Earlier, he had also started Perry House, a sober living center for men that operated from 2013 to 2015 in his former Malibu beach house.

''The interesting reason that I can be so helpful to people now is that I screwed up so often. It's nice for people to see that somebody who once struggled in their life is not struggling anymore,'' he said.

The actor had been outspoken about his alcohol and drug abuse issues in his career. Notably, Mr Perry battled for years with addiction to painkillers and alcohol and attended rehabilitation clinics on multiple occasions. He detailed his harrowing journey in his memoir 'Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing', where he talked about drug abuse and alcoholism and described going through detox dozens of times and spending millions of dollars to get sober.

The actor detailed his addiction to Vicodin following a jet ski accident in 1997, admitting that he was taking up to 55 pills a day at one point.

In his memoir, Mr Perry also acknowledged that he was aware that his legacy would probably not extend beyond the highly successful show. "When I die, I know people will talk about Friends, Friends, Friends. And I'm glad of that, happy I've done some solid work as an actor, as well as given people multiple chances to make fun of my struggles on the world wide web," he wrote. 

"But when I die, as far as my so-called accomplishments go, it would be nice if Friends were listed far behind the things I did to try to help other people. I know it won't happen but it would be nice,'' he added.