Friends executive producer Kevin S. Bright says Matthew Perry seemed ‘stronger and better’ at reunion… after fans expressed worries about his health and slurred speech
Friends executive producer Kevin S. Bright held forth about seeing Matthew Perry at the taping of the new reunion special.
After promo interviews dropped earlier this month for the reunion show fans began expressing worries online regarding Matthew’s health.
But Kevin told The Hollywood Reporter they spoke at the reunion and ‘[Matthew] seems stronger and better since the last time I saw him, and excited about going forward.’
At the special: Friends executive producer Kevin S. Bright held forth about seeing Matthew Perry at the taping of the new reunion special
Kevin, who himself was also featured prominently on the HBO Max special, said: ‘I talked to him. It was great seeing him again.’
‘And what people say is what people say. I don’t have any to say about that, except it was great to see him,’ he added.
Kevin, who also directed multiple episodes of Friends during its run, said: ‘And I think he’s very funny on the show. But yes, I think he’s OK.’
When Matthew appeared in the promotional interviews for the special some fans thought that at one point he was slurring his speech, pronouncing an ‘s’ as a ‘sh.’
As seen in the People interview: After promo interviews dropped earlier this month for the reunion show fans began expressing worries online regarding Matthew’s health
He also appeared somewhat downcast during People’s inside look at the special, with fans taking to social media to express their sympathy.
One Twitter user wrote: ‘Just saw People interview and can’t believe how Matthew Perry looks like… seriously it breaks my heart.’
Another shared: ‘It pains me to see Matthew Perry like this, he just seems off, gazing at the void, speaking slowly.’
‘Hate to say it, but I’m sad and scared like hell for Matthew Perry,’ wrote a third. ‘D*mn, Matthew Perry in those PEOPLE Friends interviews.’
There’s Kevin: But Kevin told The Hollywood Reporter they spoke at the reunion and ‘He seems stronger and better since the last time I saw him, and excited about going forward’
Matthew has been open about his past addictions and once told the BBC he cannot ‘remember three years of’ shooting Friends, but has since gotten sober.
He became hooked on Vicodin after a jet-skiing accident in 1997 and has told People his habit became ‘out of control and very unhealthy’ afterwards.
This past December his ex Kayti Edwards alleged in The Sun that when he was in the depths of his addiction he would take 80 Vicodin in one day.
‘But yes, I think he’s OK’: Kevin, who also directed multiple episodes of Friends during its run, said: ‘And I think he’s very funny on the show’
The reunion special aired this Thursday and was controversially hosted by James Corden whose late-night executive producer Ben Winston was directing.
All six of the cast – Matthew, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc – got together for the reunion.
They reminisced about old times, met up with old guest stars and even revisited their old sets and table-read some old scenes from the program.
Spot him: Kevin (fourth from right) is pictured in 2000 at the 150th episode celebration of Friends with the cast and the creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane