See ‘Dateline’ Star Keith Morrison Talk About Stepson Matthew Perry on ‘WWHL’ (VIDEO)
Fans, friends, and family continue to mourn the tragic loss of Matthew Perry, who died on Saturday, October 28, at the age of 54.
In the wake of the Friends star’s death, many fans have been wondering about the actor’s family. Perry himself never married nor had any children but is survived by his mother, father, stepfather, and several half-siblings.
Perry was born in 1969 to parents John Bennett Perry and Suzanne Langford, though the couple separated less than a year later and got divorced. Both went on to remarry, with Suzanne tying the knot with Dateline‘s Keith Morrison in 1981 and John marrying wife Debbie that same year. Both couples welcomed more children over the next few years.
Following Perry’s death many fans were surprised to learn that Morrison was his stepfather. But the Dateline star has spoken about their relationship to Andy Cohen, as you can see in the clip below. He even revealed the fancy gift Matthew once gave him.
Perry’s biological father John is an actor who made his big screen debut in 1976’s Lipstick and also portrayed the clean-shaven “sailor” in the Old Spice commercials in the 1970s and 1980s. He also appeared in many TV shows, including The West Wing, Days of Our Lives, Murder, She Wrote, Magnum P.I., and, most famously, Falcon Crest.
Matthew Perry and his dad, John Bennett Perry; L. Cohen/WireImage
On occasion, the father and son got to work together, including in the 1997 romantic comedy Fools Rush In, where John played Perry’s on-screen dad. John again played Perry’s father on an episode of the hospital sitcom Scrubs. He also appeared in one episode of Friends, playing the father of Rachel’s (Jennifer Aniston) boyfriend Joshua (Tate Donovan).
Matthew Perry and dad John Bennett Perry in ‘Scrubs’; Mitch Haddad/NBCU Photo Bank
Just days before his passing, Perry posted a photo of himself and his dad enjoying a drink together. “Here is me, and my father John, both holding a beverage,” he captioned the Instagram post.
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Perry grew up in Ottawa, Canada, with his mother, Suzanne, who worked as the press secretary for then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. She later went on to anchor the news for Global Television in Toronto.
“My mom’s job therefore meant that she was away at work a lot — and I was left to compete with the ongoing concerns of a major Western democracy and its charismatic swordsman leader if I wanted a little attention,” Perry wrote in his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, per Today.
Suzanne married Keith in 1981 and later welcomed daughters Caitlin and Emily. Perry spoke fondly of his half-siblings in his memoir but also noted that he felt outside of the family. The couple went on to have two more children, Will and Madeline.
Matthew Perry and his mom Suzanne Morrison in 2001; Vince Bucci/Getty Images
Perry later moved to live with his father in California, which he hoped would help with his fledgling tennis career. Instead, he began his journey into acting, eventually becoming one of the most recognizable faces on television.
Despite moving away from his family in Canada, Perry later acknowledged that Keith was “lovely” and the person responsible for keeping the family together.
“But my family was held together by one man, and that was Keith Morrison,” he wrote in his memoir.
Keith also spoke fondly of his stepson in a 2017 interview on Watch What Happens Live, where he told host Andy Cohen, “I did think he’d be famous, but probably not as an actor.”
When asked about the best perk of being Perry’s stepfather, Keith said, “Where should I start? There are dozens of them,” adding that his stepson “is a very good guy.”
Keith was also there for Perry through his battles with addiction, telling People in 2020, “We were able to be with him a lot of the time through that, which was I think good for everybody.”
He added, “[Perry]’s one of those people who always is the center of the room for a reason and it was so as a kid. He’s an intense, talented, focused character. He’s very bright. That was always the case as he was growing up.”
