Could Matthew Perry’s dentist be any more embarrassed?
The “Friends” star’s much-discussed speech, ah, “issue” in the “Friends” reunion trailer was due to emergency dental work, the UK’s Sun reports, and not, as was widely assumed, the star’s equally publicized struggles with substance abuse.
“Matthew turned up to the reunion [in April] and members of his team said that he had an emergency tooth procedure that day,” the tabloid’s source said. “That was said to impact his wellbeing and also how he was feeling.”
“He had been in pain from what we understand, which caused the slurred speech,” they continued. “Obviously no one wants to film after a procedure, but it happened. The feeling was one of huge sympathy for Matthew, especially in recent days given how people have reacted online.
“Matthew has told those around him that he is sober, and there is no need to worry.”
“Friends” fans were alarmed when, in the trailer for the “Friends: The Reunion” special — which will premiere Thursday, May 27, on HBO Max — Perry appeared to be slurring his words and sported a vaguely haunted cast. A subsequent trailer showed him and Jennifer Aniston getting emotional on the rebuilt set of the beloved show.
Perry has long been open about his struggle with sobriety, which included rehab stints in 1997, 2001 and 2011, telling BBC Radio 2 in 2016 that he “[doesn’t] remember three years” of “Friends,” “somewhere between Season 3 and 6.”
He had another health setback in 2018, undergoing surgery to repair a gastrointestinal perforation and subsequently spending three months in the hospital. (Perry previously spent two weeks in the hospital for pancreatitis, related to his drinking, in 2000.) Then, in 2019, photos of Perry — who usually ducks the spotlight — looking disheveled in Los Angeles caused renewed scrutiny on his health.
Perry, 51, revealed in November 2020 that he had gotten engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz — who accompanied him to the reunion — after catching heat for messaging a 19-year-old on the exclusive dating app Raya in May of that year.