Matthew Perry's mother says she still accidentally calls her son

Matthew Perry's mother, Suzanne Morrison, said she still accidentally calls her son to chat about everyday life and is heartbroken when she realizes he isn't there to answer her call.

“Even now, if I see something funny or ridiculous on the news, or whatever it is, I call him,” Morrison told “Today's” Savannah Guthrie in the first interview with Perry's family since the actor's death nearly a year ago . She continued that although Perry died, she feels closer to him now that the actor struggled with addiction for years.

“I now have more freedom in my relationship with him than ever before. “It hits me so hard that he’s not here,” Morrison continued.

The conversation included Morrison, Perry's sisters Caitlin, Emily and Madeline, and Perry's stepfather and Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison. Both of the actor's parents described their child as seemingly melancholic and sad.

“I think it's fair to say that he was also very lonely in his soul,” his mother, Suzanne Morrison, shared.

“The kind of exterior that people know, an insecure, often very sad guy,” Keith chimed in.

Since Perry's death, his family has created the Matthew Perry Foundation, which aims to help addicts recover. Perry went through a decades-long journey through addiction, which he chronicled in his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”

The “Friends” actor was found dead in his home in Los Angeles on October 28, 2023. Before his death, Perry received ketamine infusions, which are sometimes prescribed to treat anxiety and depression. Eventually it developed into an addiction, and the Morrisons said they learned of his death after receiving a very blunt phone call.

“Someone called Suzanne and he just said, 'Matthew is dead,'” Keith said.

Although the family knew he was taking the medication, the family said Perry assured them he would not mind taking the medication.

“We didn't know how much he was taking,” Keith said, adding that he believed Perry was sober at the time of his death and that he believed the medication had not become “something that (Perry) “I couldn't control it.”

“He was a guy who made decisions: 'I can handle this.' I can do that. I can tell you what is right. I know the whole system inside and out. I know what the drug will do to me.' So there was the concern, 'Mm, what is he really doing?'” Keith continued.

Morrison said she felt at one point she was unable to “help” him but is now working on blaming herself for her son's death.

“The one thing that I'm having a really hard time learning, and this is one of the reasons I want to support Katie as best I can, is that you have to stop blaming yourself because it's tearing you apart,” Morrison said and became more and more emotional.