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Matthew Perry's mother gives interview about “Friends” star's death

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Matthew Perry's family speaks together on television about his death for the first time – and his mother describes the heartfelt moment before her son's death.

The “Friends” actor's mother, Suzanne Morrison, who is married to “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison, opens up in a Today show interview with Savannah Guthrie airing Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of his death.

“He came up to me and said, 'I love you so much and I'm so happy to be with you now,'” Suzanne Morrison recalled Perry saying to her.

Perry, who was 54 at the time of his death, was found lifeless and face down in the “heated end” of his pool on October 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office announced in December of that year that Perry's cause of death was “the acute effects of ketamine.”

Suzanne Morrison continued in the “Today” preview: “It was almost like it was a premonition or something. I didn't think about it at the time, but I thought, 'How long has it been since we talked?' It’s been years.”

She shared Perry with her ex-husband John Bennett Perry, their only child. The Morrisons, who married in 1981 and have four children of their own, have since founded the Matthew Perry Foundation to support agencies and organizations that help people struggling with addiction and substance abuse.

Matthew Perry's death: Doctor who illegally obtained ketamine pleads guilty

The interview takes place while San Diego-based Dr. Mark Chavez pleaded guilty in Los Angeles earlier this month to a conspiracy to distribute the dissociative anesthetic ketamine that killed Perry. Five people, including Chavez, were criminally charged in connection with Perry's death in August.

Matthew Perry's family in August: “We were and still are heartbroken”

On a March 13 episode of the “Today” show's “Making Space” podcast hosted by Hoda Kotb, Keith Morrison discussed his stepson's death, saying the loss “wasn't easy, especially for his mother (Suzanne). “

“As other people have told me hundreds of times, it doesn’t go away. It is with you every day. It’s with you all the time and there’s a new aspect of it that attacks your brain,” Morrison told Kotb.

Matthew Perry's final days: Court documents show actor received a fatal dose of ketamine from an assistant

Perry's family previously made the comments in a statement after prosecutors charged the five people in connection with the “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” author's death.

“We are still heartbroken by Matthew's death, but it helped to know that law enforcement took his case very seriously,” the Morrison family said in a statement shared with USA TODAY.

The statement continued: “We look forward to justice taking its course and we are grateful for the extraordinary work of the numerous agencies whose agents investigated Matthew’s death. We hope unscrupulous suppliers of dangerous drugs get the message.”

Contribute: KiMi Robinson

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