Friends star Matthew Perry’s ‘slurred’ speech in reunion preview was ‘due to emergency dental surgery’

The reason for Matthew Perry’s “slurred” speech in a preview of the Friends reunion episode has been explained.

Shortly after the release of a promo video, which teased the cast’s first televised reunion since the show ended in 2004, viewers highlighted that the Chandler Bing actor was speaking in a slurred manner.

At one stage, it also seemed that he was on the verge of dozing off during the interview.

Many expressed their concern for Perry, 51, on Twitter – however, a source has now revealed the reason behind his behaviour.

According to a source close to the star, the actor needed emergency dental surgery hours before the interview was due to take place.

“Matthew turned up to the reunion [in April] and members of his team said that he had an emergency tooth procedure that day,” they told The Sun.

“That was said to impact his wellbeing and also how he was feeling. [Matthew] had been in pain from what we understand, which caused the slurred speech.”

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In the trailer for the reunion, which is airing on Thursday (27 May), the actor left fans emotional when he broke down reminiscing on his memories of the show.

“Yep, I’m gonna cry,” he says in the clip as Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel in the beloved sitcom, strokes his shoulder, reassuringly.

Perry has been open about his struggles while making the show. After becoming a household name in 1994, he became addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs and, in 2016, said that he “[can’t] remember three years” of the show as he was “a little out of it”.

He attended rehab twice during his run on Friends, and has since opened his own rehabilitation centre for alcoholics.

The Friends reunion episode is available to watch in the UK today (27 May) – find out how here.

The reunion’s biggest moment came when Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer revealed they had real-life feelings for each other while filming the show.

Elsewhere the episode, Perry revealed he constantly “felt he was going to die” if a joke fell flat in front of the live studio audience.

Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey, also disclosed how Perry thought a classic episode of the sitcom was “stupid”.

Find our verdict on the reunion in Adam White’s review here.

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