Matthew Perry’s sister has opened up about the staggering millions he spent trying to get sober, as a deeply personal new Netflix documentary promises to reveal the man behind Chandler Bing

Matthew Perry spent an astonishing $7 million trying to get sober, his sister has revealed in an emotional first look at Netflix’s new documentary about the Friends star.

Mia Perry Bowick makes the revelation in the newly released trailer for The One About Matthew Perry, a three-part documentary exploring the actor’s extraordinary rise to fame, private struggles with addiction and the legacy he left behind.

But the staggering figure is only part of the story.

Archive footage shows Perry reflecting on something fame and Friends could never give him: relief from what he was struggling with internally.

His sister also speaks about the emptiness and loneliness her brother experienced, while the documentary promises previously unseen material from the Perry family’s private archive.

And despite Friends being at the centre of Perry’s rise to global fame, there is one notable absence from the new interviews.

Why did Matthew Perry spend $7 million trying to get sober?

Perry’s sister Mia says her brother spent $7 million trying to get sober, explaining that the extraordinary amount demonstrated how seriously he regarded his addiction.

Perry had spoken publicly about his addiction and recovery long before his death.

He said he had been to rehabilitation 15 times, while his struggles continued during and after the years in which millions knew him as Chandler Bing.

But the new trailer puts the huge financial cost alongside something deeper.

In archive footage featured in the documentary, Perry recalls how desperately he once wanted to become famous.

Landing Friends gave him exactly that.

It just didn’t solve the problem he thought it would.

Perry reflected that after initially being extremely happy about becoming famous, he realised success hadn’t fixed what was troubling him internally.

Mia provides another side of that story, describing her brother as someone who talked about a sense of emptiness or loneliness that he struggled to fill.

It turns the $7 million figure from a shocking statistic into something considerably more revealing about Perry’s life.

What does Matthew Perry’s sister reveal in the documentary?

Mia Perry Bowick is set to become one of the most important voices in the Matthew Perry documentary.

Netflix says the series contains previously unheard testimony from Perry’s sister alongside unreleased photographs and videos from the family’s private archive.

It is also Mia’s first interview since her brother’s death, according to People.

She has explained that she needed time before she felt ready to publicly share her memories of Perry and what it was like to love him through the complexities of his life.

Importantly, she wants viewers to see more than the two versions of Perry that have often dominated public discussion.

Not simply Chandler Bing.

And not simply Matthew Perry the addict.

Netflix says the documentary instead attempts to show the person behind the public figure through those who knew him closely.

Mia remembers her brother as having a generous spirit and an ability to make people laugh and feel loved even during some of his darkest periods.

That distinction appears to be central to the entire documentary.

What is The One About Matthew Perry about?

The One About Matthew Perry is a three-part Netflix documentary series exploring Perry’s life, career, addiction, recovery efforts and advocacy.

Rather than focusing solely on the circumstances surrounding his death, the series traces his journey from an aspiring comedian to one of television’s most recognisable stars.

It combines archive footage of Perry with testimony from family, lifelong friends and people who worked alongside him. Netflix says the documentary also contains previously unreleased photographs and videos from the Perry family’s private archive.

Perry’s addiction and the circumstances surrounding his death have already been examined extensively, with a previous documentary revealing disturbing details about how Matthew Perry was supplied ketamine.

Director Mary Robertson said the public knew Perry through his performances and his openness about addiction, but only knew part of his story. The new documentary aims to reveal more of the person behind the public figure through those who knew and loved him.

Are the Friends cast in the Matthew Perry documentary?

This is one question many Friends fans are likely to have.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer are not among the new interview participants in The One About Matthew Perry, according to Rolling Stone.

That doesn’t mean Friends is absent from the documentary.

Far from it.

Perry’s decade playing Chandler Bing is fundamental to his story, and people who worked behind the scenes on the sitcom do contribute.

Former NBC president Warren Littlefield and Friends Season 1 writer Jeff Strauss are among those discussing Perry’s early involvement in the programme and the creation of Chandler.

So viewers should expect considerable discussion of Friends, just not newly recorded interviews with Perry’s five famous co-stars.

Who appears in the Matthew Perry documentary?

Alongside Mia Perry Bowick, the documentary features several people who knew Perry at different stages of his life.

Longtime friends David Pressman and Roger Castillo participate, while several of Perry’s former girlfriends and collaborators from projects including The Whole Nine Yards, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Fools Rush In also contribute.

There are also people who knew Perry through recovery.

That matters because the documentary isn’t only interested in what addiction did to Perry.

It also explores what Perry attempted to do for other people because of his experiences.

Matthew Perry tried to turn his struggles into something bigger

Perry became increasingly open about addiction during his lifetime.

But one of the more important parts of his legacy was what he tried to do with that experience.

The documentary explores his advocacy for drug court reform and his attempts to help other people facing addiction.

It will also feature people Perry met through recovery and rehabilitation.

One of them, Tim Harrington, lived with Perry for a period in the early 2000s and credits the actor with helping save his life.

That side of Perry’s story is significant because it gives the documentary somewhere more meaningful to go than simply revisiting his most difficult years.

His battle with addiction became part of his public identity, but he also tried to use what he had experienced to help others.

When is the Matthew Perry documentary on Netflix?

The One About Matthew Perry premieres on Netflix on 27 October 2026.

The documentary consists of three parts and arrives one day before the third anniversary of Perry’s death.

Perry died aged 54 on 28 October 2023.

Netflix describes the documentary as the first in-depth documentary about the actor and says it will explore his Hollywood success, advocacy and personal struggles through the people closest to him.

For viewers who spent a decade watching Perry turn Chandler Bing’s insecurities into some of Friends’ biggest laughs, the series appears determined to show the considerably more complicated person behind them.

And perhaps the most striking part of the new trailer isn’t simply that Perry spent $7 million trying to get sober.

It’s that after getting the fame he’d once desperately wanted, Perry realised it hadn’t fixed what he was searching for in the first place.