Matthew Perry Used FRIENDS Salary to Help Michael J. Fox’s Foundation
By Movieguide® Contributor
BACK TO THE FUTURE star Michael J. Fox shared how recently deceased FRIENDS actor Matthew Perry put his large salary to good use.
“I hope this isn’t indiscreet … but when they first made their big sale [on their FRIENDS contracts] and were made millionaires for the rest of their lives, he wrote a big fat check to the foundation,” Fox shared with Entertainment Tonight. “We were really early on and trying to find our feet. And it was such a vote of confidence.”
“And it wasn’t accompanied by any self-aggrandizing or anything. He was just like, ‘Take it and do your best,’” Fox said. “I loved that.”
Movieguide® reported: “FRIENDS star Matthew Perry died on Saturday, October 28, 2023. He was 54.”
Fox’s foundation seeks solutions for Parkinson’s disease. Per its website, it “is the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s research. Since its founding in 2000, the Foundation has funded more than $800 million in global research. 88 cents of every dollar spent goes straight to programs to speed a cure for Parkinson’s.”
The New York Post reported, “The FRIENDS cast — which also included Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — made history when they joined together and negotiated new salaries of $1 million per episode for Seasons 9 and 10. The beloved NBC sitcom ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.”
Perry mentioned before that Fox inspired him as an actor. In a 2022 interview, he said, “I was young, I had done a couple of plays in school, and Michael J. Fox was it, man.”
“I remember realizing when I was in ninth grade in Ottawa that Michael J. Fox had both the number one movie and the number one TV show at the same time, and even then, at the age of fourteen, steam came out of my ears with envy,” Perry wrote in his memoir.
Movieguide® recently reported on a foundation created in the late actor’s honor:
“The interesting reason that I can be so helpful to people now is that I screwed up so often,” [Perry said]. “It’s nice for people to see that somebody who once struggled in their life is not struggling any more.”
Now, Perry’s friends and family have turned his dream into a reality, establishing the Matthew Perry Foundation to help those struggling with substance abuse.
“In the spirit of Matthew Perry’s enduring commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction, we embark on a journey to honor his legacy by establishing the Matthew Perry Foundation, guided by his own words and experiences and driven by his passion for making a difference in as many lives a possible,” reads a statement announcing the foundation’s establishment.
