Matthew Perry’s stepfather Keith Morrison opens up about ‘Friends’ star’s death: ‘It’s with you every day’
Matthew Perry’s stepfather and veteran “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison said he can still feel “the echo” of the late actor’s presence every day.
In a new interview with “Today” co-host Hoda Kotb on her “Making Spaces” podcast, Morrison opened up about his stepson’s sudden death at 54.
The beloved actor, who was propelled to global stardom after landing a role on “Friends,” died on Oct. 28 of an apparent drowning incident at his California home.
Perry felt he was overcoming his decades-long battle with addiction at the time of his tragic death, according to Morrison.
“He felt like he was beating it,” said Morrison, who has been married to Perry’s mother Suzanne since 1981. “But you never beat it, and he knew that, too.”
“It’s with you every day,” he said of the grief. “It’s with you all the time, and there’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain. It’s not easy.”
Morrison added that the “Fools Rush In” star “didn’t get to have his third act, and that’s not fair.”
Elsewhere, the former correspondent said Perry was closer than ever with his mother at the time of his death.
They were “texting each other constantly,” he said of the pair, and shared “things with her that most middle-aged men don’t share with their mothers.”
“He was goofy. He was funny. He was acerbic,” Morrison added. “But even if he didn’t say a word, he was the center of attention.”
When it comes to comparing the late actor to himself, Morrison said the pair were “as they say, chalk and cheese. He was loud and out there and funny and aggressive.”
“He had that kind of very fiery personality, and mine is not like that, as you can imagine,” he said. “But we got along fine … I never tried to replace his dad … but I was there for him, and he knew it.”
Elsewhere, Morrison said he tried to support Perry “as much as possible” through the years, no matter how challenging the situation became.
“That’s a whirlwind of a life, to get involved in a program that became as wildly successful as it was, to be fighting an addiction that was so virulent, that went after him so hard,” he shared.
He said that the late actor would get to “a certain point” where he knew he needed to get treatment, and “accept help when he needed it.”
“But as he said himself, it just kept happening … and it was a big bear. It was a tough thing … [a] big, terrible thing.”
