Matthew Perry’s obsession with Batman before his shock death ‘wasn’t a coded cry for help’

2 November 2023

Matthew Perry’s fixation on Batman before he died has been dismissed as a “goofy” joke and not a “cry for help”.

Matthew Perry’s fixation on Batman before he died has been dismissed as a ‘goofy’ joke and not a ‘cry for help’

The ‘Friends’ actor was found dead aged 54 on October 28 in the hot tub in the backyard of his $6 million mansion in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles – and five days earlier he had posted a snap of himself in the jacuzzi on his Instagram calling himself ‘Mattman’.

Former Miss Teen USA Athenna Crosby, who was one of the last people to see the Chandler Bing star alive, as she had lunch with him at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles 24 hours before his shock passing, and has now brushed off speculation his Batman reference was a code he needed help.

She told TMZ: “Matthew was very sweet and a little bit nerdy. He loved Batman. He called his car the Batmobile because it was all tinted black and had matt paint on it, just like the Batmobile.

“He had been calling himself Mattman lately which was a nickname he dubbed for himself and he was really goofy and playful.

“I think people assuming that his posts about the Bat signal or the fact he was calling himself Batman were some sort of subliminal messages to ask for help or a cry for help – that’s just completely false.

“He was just a sweet nerd that liked Batman. He talks about his love of Batman in the book. Anybody who is speculating that it had anything to do with it is getting carried away.”

Athenna added she was speaking out to “attest for Matthew’s character” the day before he died, saying: “He was in an extremely good mood, he was excited about the future and he was taking care of his health. The fact that he died was a freak accident. There's nothing fishy about it.”

All seven of Matthew’s final social media posts mentioned Batman – sparking widespread speculation his frequent references to the Batman logo were some kind of secret distress call.

In his final public post, the actor captioned an image of himself lounging in his hot tub by moonlight: “Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I’m Mattman.”

Matthew has previously said he saw himself as Batman as he identified with the vigilante’s damaged psyche who channelled his grief over seeing his parents murdered into helping others.