Charlie Sheen 'Shocked to the Core' Over Matthew Perry's Death as Both Stars Battled Addiction

Charlie Sheen was very affected by Friends star Matthew Perry's tragic death.

Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his L.A. home on October 28, 2023, after years of struggling with mental health and addiction issues. Medical examiners later determined his cause of death as due to the acute effects of ketamine, with contributing factors that included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine.

"Matthew’s death shocked him to the core," an insider spilled to a news outlet. "It’s served as yet another example of how difficult it can be for anyone who’s battled addiction to stay sober."

In a recent interview, Sheen admitted that when he read Perry had passed away, he felt he could have easily been reading the headline about himself instead.

"That was really sad when that happened. I just read his book. About six weeks ago, and I read it in a day," he added, referring to Perry's 2022 best-seller, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. "No kidding. Yeah, I turned off my phone. It was so instantly accessible and engaging that I just said, this is all I want to do today. I just stayed in it and it wasn’t like I finished at 2 in the morning. I finished at 8:15."

"I can relate to it, so much of it. Because I was reliving or I was experiencing it with him. A lot of the struggle, a lot of the obsession," he continued. "When you’re at that fork in the road when there are 76 really good choices, and you go with number 77."

"A lot of it really spoke to me, and I knew him a little bit from out in the world, from AA occasionally, and he was lovely," the Two and a Half Men star revealed. "He was smart and funny, and yeah, he was charming and it wasn’t always about him. He included people."

"He was a special cat. I wish I knew him better," he said. "I’m not saying I could have influenced some change or helped him in any way, but yeah, I just wish I knew him better."

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Sheen spoke with Deadline.

The source told Star magazine about Sheen's feelings after Perry's death.