Matthew Perry triggered an avalanche of headlines ahead of the release of his new memoir, which details his decades-long struggles with addiction while spilling the tea on everything from famous women he’s dated to behind-the-scenes Friends anecdotes.
Initially, the internet applauded Perry for his candidness and rallied behind him on his ongoing path of recovery. But then, something incredible happened. Among the morsels peppered through the book, it surfaced that the 53-year-old made nasty remarks about universally beloved actor Keanu Reeves — not once, but twice. The court of public opinion turned on Perry on a dime, who had essentially milkshake-ducked himself, and he was subsequently forced to issue an apology.
Reeves obviously has not publicly commented on the remarks — though, if he did, it would probably be to wish Perry well, because that’s the kind of guy he is — however, Us Weekly spoke with a source with intel. And yeah, Keanu was just as confused as the rest of us.
“Keanu thought the comments came out of left field,” the insider says. “It’s kind of backfired on Matthew anyway, which is why he had to apologize.”
Out of left field is putting it gently.
While remembering the death of their mutual friend River Phoenix, Perry wrote about the loss of such a bright, young star, while perplexingly lamenting that Keanu Reeves did not die from an overdose. Because that’s how life works?
“River was a beautiful man inside and out — too beautiful for this world, it turned out,” Perry wrote. “It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down. Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”
Later in the book, Perry wrote about learning that Chris Farley died, and had the same reaction: “I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out. Keanu Reeves walks among us.”
In his apology, Perry claimed that he “chose a random name,” but we’re not buying it. Why does Matthew Perry hate Keanu Reeves so much?
The guy, by all accounts, is known to be a generous, down-to-earth guy who, not to mention, has experienced no small amount of hardship in his own life (Reeves’ only child with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Syme was born stillborn in 1999, and Syme herself perished in a car accident a year and half later.)
Well, it seems like we’ll just have to let the mystery be. But the moral of the story is that any sympathy you earn by revealing that you almost died twice will dry up pretty quickly once you fire shots at Keanu Reeves.
