Friends creator Marta Kauffman reveals she was 'concerned' about Matthew Perry ... trends now

Friends cocreator Marta Kauffman has admitted she was 'concerned' about Matthew Perry falling back into addiction ahead of the sitcom's reunion in 2021 after he was forced to undergo emergency dental surgery.

Kauffman paid tribute to Perry, who died in a hot tub at his LA home last Saturday, on the Today show on Wednesday and recalled her fears for his health, claiming the star, who played Chandler Bing in the TV sitcom, was being given 'opioids for pain.'

'Yes, I was concerned about him,' she said of the actor who was newly sober when filming took place. 

'Knowing that he'd been through everything he'd been through, and every time he had surgery they're giving him opioids for pain, and the cycle starts over again.

'So, yes, I was concerned about what point in the cycle he was in that moment.' 

Perry, whose colon burst in 2018 from opioid overuse, sparked concern after appearing to slur his words in a video promoting the eagerly anticipated reunion. 

He later revealed that he underwent dental surgery just days before filming, telling Diane Sawyer in a 2022 interview that the procedure 'made [his] mouth feel like fire'.

The Friends reunion was hosted by James Corden and released on HBO Max in May 2021.

The special saw the main cast - Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Le Blanc and Courteney Cox - revisit the sets from the seminal 90s sitcom and reenact scenes, as well as meet with the guest stars.

It also marked Perry's final on-screen appearance before his death.

Perry was candid about his addiction struggles, revealing in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing, that he went to rehab multiple times, spent thousands of hours at AA meetings and splashed millions of dollars trying to get clean.

He said he overcame his addiction in 2021, and he was believed to be leading a healthier lifestyle in recent months.