Keith Morrison admitted he wasn’t completely shocked by his stepson Matthew Perry’s death.
“It was the news you never want to get, but you think someday you might,” the “Dateline” correspondent said on Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast Wednesday.
“So yes, and no, I guess is the answer to that,” he added, referring to the “Today” show co-anchor’s question about whether he was surprised.
The late “Friends” star died at the age of 54 on Oct. 28, 2023, after drowning in his jacuzzi.
However, the coroner later confirmed that Perry had died from the acute effects of ketamine.
Morrison, 76, said Perry was doing well before his death and had even grown closer with his mother, Suzanne Langford Perry.
“He was happy, and he said so,” he continued, “and he hadn’t said that for a long time. It’s a source of comfort, but also, he didn’t get to have his third act, and that’s not fair.”
The crime show personality even told Kotb, 59, that Perry was “right” when he thought people would not be surprised by his death.
“And as he said himself, ‘If if I suddenly died, people would be shocked, but not too many people would be surprised,’” Morrison recalled of Perry’s comment. “And he was right.”
Although the “Whole Nine Yards” star had a “funny” and “goofy” personality, Morrison admitted Perry’s long-term substance abuse battle brought out his darker side.
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“In a way our personalities were, as they say, chalk and cheese,” he said. “He was loud and out there and funny and aggressive … and so he had that kind of very fiery personality, and mine is not like that, as you can imagine.
“But we got along fine. I never tried to replace his dad, but I was there for him, and he knew it,” he continued. “We were close.”
Court documents obtained by Page Six on Monday revealed the “17 Again” star’s will listed his father, John Perry, and mother as beneficiaries of his $1 million estate in addition to his half-sister, Caitlin Morrison, and ex-girlfriend Rachel Dunn.
Morrison was not listed in the probate documents.
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