Matthew Perry's stepfather wasn't completely surprised by his death.
Matthew Perry's family weren't surprised by his death
The 'Friends' actor died in October, aged 54, due to the "acute effects of ketamine", with drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine listed as contributory factors, and Keith Morrison admitted he wasn't shocked when he received the call to break the news.
Asked if he was surprised by Matthew's death, he told Hoda Kotb on her 'Making Space' podcast: "It was the news you never want to get, but you think someday you might.
“So yes, and no, I guess is the answer to that...
“And as he said himself, ‘If if I suddenly died, people would be shocked, but not too many people would be surprised.' And he was right.”
The 'Dateline' correspondent admitted grief has been hard on their family, particularly Matthew's mother Suzanne Langford Perry, who Keith married in 1981.
He said: "As other people have told me hundreds of times, it doesn't go away. It's with you every day. It's with you all the time, and there's some new aspect of it that assaults your brain. It's not easy, especially for his mom."
But a "source of comfort" to them is the '17 Again' star had grown "closer" to his mom than he had been "for decades" before his death and was "happy" about his life.
Keith said: "Toward the end of his life, they were closer than I've seen them for decades. Texting each other constantly and sharing things with her that most middle-aged men don't share with their mothers...
“He was happy, and he said so, and he hadn’t said that for a long time. It’s a source of comfort, but also, he didn’t get to have his third act, and that’s not fair.”
Keith noted Matthew had a "funny" and "goofy" personality but the 'Whole Nine Yards' star's long battle with addiction had brought out his darker side.
He added: “In a way our personalities were, as they say, chalk and cheese. He was loud and out there and funny and aggressive … and so he had that kind of very fiery personality, and mine is not like that, as you can imagine.
“But we got along fine. I never tried to replace his dad, but I was there for him, and he knew it. We were close.”
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