Why a doctor told Matthew Perry he might die at 60
Entertainment
Perry's cause of death has yet to be released
(Web Desk) - Matthew Perry was well aware of his mortality before he died Saturday at the age of 54, based on what he wrote in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.
While a hypnotist warned that his smoking habit could cause him to die alone of a heart attack, his doctor was even more direct about how dire the situation was.
Perry had been wheezing every time he lay down to go to sleep, and after a week of waiting, he finally got an appointment with his pulmonary doctor for a breathing test. He expected to have a bronchial infection.
"After a very long while, the doctor waltzed into his office, took a seat, and announced (rather nonchalantly, I thought, given the stakes) that my years of smoking had taken a great toll on my lungs, and if I didn't quit smoking now — today — I was going to die when I was 60," he wrote.
"In other words, it didn't f---ing matter if I had a bronchial infection."
The doctor said it was "something much worse" than a bronchial infection, but there was good news.
"We caught it early enough that if you did quit smoking, you could live well into your eighties," Perry recalled the doctor saying.
The actor then hired a hypnotist to help him quit smoking, and was at least temporarily able to kick the habit, according to his book.
Perry died on Saturday at the age of 54 and was found alone in his hot tub after a suspected drowning. His cause of death is still officially unknown.
