Sean Penn Sparks Controversy With His Insensitive Remark in Response to Matthew Perry’s Demise

During his interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday, Sean Penn discussed his feelings over the untimely passing of Matthew Perry, admitting that he wasn't "terribly surprised." The 63-year-old Oscar winner Sean Penn paid tribute to the late Friends star, describing his demise as "tragic" and applauding Perry's bravery for being transparent about his difficulties. As reported by Marca, Penn said on the show that he had seen Perry not long before his passing, congratulated him on his most recent book, and admitted that he had learned about some of the book's content from watching interviews. Penn added that he was not shocked to learn that Perry did not have much time left.

He further added, "It's tragic. I can't say I was very surprised. I don't know what the coroner's report says and all that, but I know he'd done a lot of organ damage over the years." Social media users sharply condemned Sean Penn for his remarks, calling them inappropriate and even nasty and accusing him of demeaning the departed and his family. Interestingly, Penn complimented Perry on the same show for opening out about his battles with addiction. He said, "He seemed to be talking about it, had confronted it, and was very intelligent and bold about it. And generously offering his experience to people to be helpful. He got to leave that tale behind, and he got to give a lot of joy to a lot of people with his talent. So, I wish his family well."

Penn, who had previously struggled with addiction, expressed respect for Perry's desire to be transparent about his health concerns with the public. Talking about their recent meeting at the airport in Los Angeles, Penn said, "I saw him somewhat recently, and we were both catching a flight out of Los Angeles airport, and I complimented him on what I knew of his book. I hadn’t read the book, but I had seen several of his interviews..."

Penn and Perry had previously worked together, and in 2001, Penn made a fleeting cameo in two episodes of Friends. Famous for his depiction of Chandler Bing, Perry spoke about his battles with alcohol and drug addiction in his book Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, published in 2022. Perry claimed in his book that dealing with addiction has been difficult and expensive. In his autobiography, the actor claims to have spent over $7 million on sobriety and to have attended treatment 15 times. As reported by Today, he wrote in his book, "I’ve been in a mental institution, gone to therapy twice a week for thirty years, been to death’s door." This excludes the money and time he has lost to alcohol and drug addiction as a consequence of his activities. On the set of the 2002 movie Serving Sara, the actor remembers drinking a quart of vodka and using drugs every day. He wrote, "Every day I would show up to set, pass out in my chair, wake up to do a scene, stumble to set, then just basically scream into a camera for two minutes."