George Clooney says Friends didn’t bring Matthew Perry ‘happiness’

George Clooney has opened up about the death of his friend Matthew Perry, saying the late star still didn’t “find peace” despite all of his success.

Matthew Perry died of a ketamine overdose. Picture: Getty Images

George Clooney, a longtime friend of Matthew Perry, has revealed that being on the hit television series, Friends, did not bring the late star “peace or happiness”.

Clooney told Deadline in the US he had known Perry since the late star “was a kid”.

“I knew Matt when he was 16 years old,” Clooney told Deadline in the US. “We used to play paddle tennis together. He’s about 10 years younger than me. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid.”

George Clooney has said that success didn’t make Matthew Perry “happy”. Picture: Getty Images

Clooney recalled how Perry would often share his dreams about landing a role on a hit TV show.

“All he would say to us, I mean me, [actors] Richard Kind and Grant Heslov, was, I just want to get on a sitcom, man. I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I would be the happiest man on earth,” Cooney said.

And when Perry did land the role of Chandler Bing on Friends, Clooney said he still “wasn’t happy.”

Matthew Perry during the height of Friends mania. Picture: Getty Images

George Clooney’s star also rose at the same time thanks to his performance as Dr Doug Ross in ER. Picture: Supplied

Despite fulfilling a dream, Clooney said Perry’s success “didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace”.

The Oscar-winning actor and director reminisced with Deadline about filming his own hit show, ER, ”side-by-side” on the same studio where Friends was shot.

ER, which made Clooney a star, aired from 1994 to 2009 and Friends aired from 1994 to 2004. In 1995, Clooney even guest starred in an episode of the legendary sitcom.

Friends was a global phenomenon. Picture: Everett Collection

“We all went from unknowns to being on the cover of Newsweek.”

But, despite the success, Clooney knew that Perry was struggling.

“And watching that go on the lot — we were at Warner Brothers, we were there right next to each other — it was hard to watch because we didn’t know what was going through him,” Clooney said of Perry’s struggle with substance abuse.

George Clooney revealed he knew Matthew Perry when the late star was 16. Picture: Getty Images

“We just knew that he wasn’t happy and I had no idea he was doing, what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff. And it also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn’t just automatically bring you happiness,” he said.

“You have to be happy with yourself and your life.”

Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on October 28. An autopsy revealed the star had died of the “acute effects of ketamine”.

The Los Angeles County Coroner also listed drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects as contributing factors in his death.

Originally published as George Clooney says Friends didn’t bring Matthew Perry ‘happiness’