Matthew Perry's Friend Athenna Crosby On Seeing Him Day Before His Death

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00:00 I had the opportunity to go out to lunch with Matthew and he was so excited to be there,

00:06 had so much to talk about, and was really just in a happy, positive mood.

00:11 I did not say anything about his death for the subsequent days following the news just because

00:17 I figured I don't want to say that I was the last person to be seen with him, especially in such a

00:23 treacherous time as this, but once that photo came out I realized, "Okay, I gotta speak up."

00:29 And identify myself to get ahead of the narrative and make sure nobody speculates negatively about

00:36 the day before his death. Matthew was exactly how you would expect him to be. I think that's why so

00:42 many people all over the world consider him a friend and are mourning his death, even not having

00:48 the chance to have met him personally. He was super generous, kind, funny, cracking jokes,

00:55 just very much a goober, you know? I feel like he is reminiscent of the characters that he's

01:02 played on TV and in the movies and he was exactly how people would expect him to be,

01:07 so I'm so privileged to have known that version of him because I know there are other stories about

01:12 previous iterations of him and the things that he struggled with, but in those final moments,

01:17 that's exactly the man that I spoke to. I had not known him for very long, to be honest.

01:22 We were introduced through a mutual friend. I am also in the entertainment industry and I'm

01:27 always looking to meet interesting people to connect with them and I'm young in my career

01:31 here in LA, so why not meet a cool guy like Matthew Perry? And it was really amazing. I feel

01:38 like we really connected as friends and had so much to talk about. He was very much mentoring me

01:45 in those final moments and saying, "This is what you need to do next with your career and this is

01:49 what I think you could benefit from," and he was just so helpful, always looking out for other

01:54 people, even those that he didn't know very long, like myself. I would say it was just a casual,

01:59 friendly lunch that two friends might be having anyway. Like I said, reminiscing on it now and

02:05 looking back on it now, I'm overthinking everything and thinking, "Well, what did I say?

02:09 What did he say? Was there anything that stood out that I should have noticed?" But in reality,

02:13 no. It was just a regular conversation between two people talking about life, talking about

02:19 his aspirations, his goals, his dreams. I shared with him some of the things that I have coming up

02:24 in my life. I really didn't think too much about it at all. It was just a positive, happy conversation

02:30 about mundane, everyday things. And then all of a sudden it blew up and now everyone's wanting to

02:35 know, "Was he okay? Was there anything weird about it?" And there really wasn't anything.

02:40 He seemed completely normal. I am echoing some of the words from other people that spoke to him in

02:48 those recent days as well, because that's exactly correct. And I'm corroborating their story that

02:54 they spoke to him in the weeks leading up to his death. I spoke to him in the day leading up to

02:58 his death. He was completely normal. He was completely fine. He had no signs of any kind

03:04 of substance abuse or relapsing or any kind of sporadic crazy behavior. His speech was eloquent

03:14 and nice. There were really no warning signs. One of the last things he said to me is actually

03:19 kind of eerie to me now, and I have thought about it so much since then. I talked to him about my

03:26 up and coming plans for the next week. And next week I'm actually getting my wisdom teeth taken

03:31 out. And I remember just mentioning that and passing to him and saying, "Yeah, I'm going to

03:35 do this and this and that. And then I'm having wisdom teeth surgery on Tuesday." And he stopped

03:40 for a second and he goes, "You're getting your wisdom teeth taken out? Are you getting anesthesia?

03:44 Are you going to take medication?" And I go, "Well, I don't know. I haven't had the consultation yet."

03:48 And he kind of paused and he said, "You know, my wisdom teeth surgery that I had

03:54 was one of the first instances that I was exposed to drugs. And that was one of the things that set

04:02 off his lifelong pattern of drug abuse. And that was so hollowing for me to hear that because I

04:08 think I hadn't thought about it twice. I was just getting ready to do this normal appointment.

04:14 But now I think, you know, because I have known him, because I'm now aware that that was one of

04:23 the first things that he encountered that was a struggle with drugs, maybe I was meant to hear

04:29 that from him. I'm not sure what would have happened if he hadn't passed away, but I'll tell

04:35 you now that I've set up a support system and a network for me to be safe after all of that. And

04:42 in a really, really crazy way, I feel like, I don't know, maybe he saved my life. Maybe that would

04:47 have been me. How did you hear about his tragic passing? I was actually in the car going to

04:58 play up some music for a drive. And I happened to swipe left on your phone where all of the news

05:05 comes up in that column. And I saw Matthew Perry dead at 54. And I was in shock. I could not believe

05:13 that that had just happened, especially because I had just seen him the day before. He seemed

05:18 completely fine. He was so optimistic about his health and his well-being and his career and his

05:23 goals. And then he's gone. And I can't tell you in that moment what went through my mind. I went

05:30 through every possible emotion of, is this a hoax? To, did I notice something that I didn't realize?

05:39 To, what if, I guess, this was his destiny? I don't know, right? It's like, you never know

05:50 what's the reason for something like this happening. He had a lot of things planned. I think,

05:54 given that he released his memoir this last year, he wanted to do more advocacy with the

06:00 substance abuse and alcohol abuse community. He wanted to utilize his voice to give back to people

06:06 who might be struggling. And he knew he was a major celebrity. He knew he had millions of fans

06:11 all over the world. And just by odds, some of those fans are probably struggling with addiction,

06:17 or they have friends and family members who are. And I think he really wanted to reach those people.

06:22 He was in the works of starting a foundation that could funnel money from his great success in the

06:29 entertainment industry to helping people in recovery. And that was something that he was

06:34 so, so excited about, was to show the world that he was back and that he was ready to lend a helping

06:40 hand. He said that one thing that he always wanted was to tell his story through film.

06:45 Being an actor, he wanted to be in front of the camera again. And he expressed how he wanted to

06:50 maybe make a biopic about him. He really wanted Zac Efron to be the lead. He said that he worked

06:56 with him before and on Seventeen again, and that he really liked him and that he figured,

07:01 why not ask him again? Right? He's the perfect guy. They've already played each other before.

07:05 So that was just something that he said so briefly. I'm not sure if there was any movement on that,

07:12 but that was one of his wishes. And also, he wanted to write a role in this biopic for himself

07:18 to make a cameo. He said potentially writing a character that was a counselor for drug addiction,

07:25 and that he would play that role so that he would almost be talking to his past self and saying,

07:30 "This is the advice that I would give you, knowing what I know now, to help you change

07:36 the course of your life." Did you guys plan on meeting again anytime soon?

07:41 No, we hadn't even gotten to that point. Like I said, I had only known him briefly.

07:46 It's just a crazy coincidence that I happened to be the person that was one of the last people

07:52 to see him alive and the last person to be seen out in public with him. I, like I said, feel

07:59 very confused by all of it and wondering what's the greater purpose for all of this.

08:06 So we didn't have plans to meet again, but what I will say is now this is an opportunity for me to

08:12 really preserve his legacy. I want to come out and speak out about his mental state before he passed

08:18 to stop the speculation, to stop people from coming up with crazy theories about what he

08:24 might have been doing or saying the day before, and again, direct more people to his addiction

08:29 and recovery advocacy, which was the most important thing. I think after all of this

08:33 is said and done, I will respectfully bow out of this situation so that the people that were

08:40 closer to him can really express their thoughts and feelings. I am really speaking about this now,

08:45 like I said, just to dispel those immediate rumors that there was something wrong with him the day

08:49 before. But after that, I think that will be the time for his contemporaries to really shine and

08:57 hopefully bring some of those projects that he had to life. So that's what I hope to see from

09:02 the people close to him is helping him see that dream through.

09:08 If you had the chance to tell Matthew one more thing, what would it be?

09:11 I would tell him, I hope I'm making you proud. I'm sorry that I have to be the one to

09:22 talk about these things. And I wish that this had never happened. But more than anything,

09:29 I want to tell him that I'm proud of him and that he was an extremely brave person

09:34 who inspired so many people, even me, that I don't even think he realized. He was such a kind person

09:42 who touched the hearts of everybody that he knew. He treated everybody like they were his best

09:47 friend. It could be somebody that he just met that day. It could be somebody that he's known

09:52 for a couple of weeks or months, or it could be his lifelong friend. He treated everybody the same

09:56 and treated everybody equally. And I think that is going to be one of the most positive things

10:00 to come out of this is just the comfort that his fans will feel knowing that the person that they

10:08 saw on screen was the person that he was in his heart. And for that, I commend him. And I'm never

10:14 going to forget some of the lessons that this has taught me and that he taught me.

10:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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