Selma Blair speaks out about Matthew Perry's personal items up for auction
Actress Selma Blair is speaking out as keepsakes belonging to her good friend, the late Matthew Perry, go up for auction, including memorabilia from "Friends" and pieces from Perry's personal art collection.
"Matthew Perry is one of a kind, and it means so much to be able to say I loved him, and I bet you loved him too," Blair said in a video message that aired exclusively on "Good Morning America" Thursday.
"Let's keep his heart and his spirit going," she added.
Proceeds from the auction, the Matthew Perry Estate Auction, will go to support the foundation established in the actor's name following his October 2023 death from acute effects of ketamine.
Perry's family established the Matthew Perry Foundation following his death, in November 2023, to help people struggling with addiction.
"Years later, I still can't believe how much it hurts when I wake up knowing that Matty isn't a phone call away," Blair said of her late friend, who was 54 when he died.
The auction, which opens Friday and is organized by Heritage Auctions, features several "Friends"-related pieces, including a collection of 26 scripts spanning key episodes like "The One with Ross's Tan," "The One Where Joey Speaks French," and the two-part series finale, "The Last One."
Perry played the beloved character Chandler Bing on "Friends" from 1994 to 2004, the series' entire 10-season run.
Perry's 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a television comedy series, a replica of the yellow peephole frame from Monica's apartment on "Friends," a cast-signed "Six of One" pilot script, and a "Friends" photo album titled "The One with the Last Supper" with a letter from "Jenny" are also up for sale.
Other personal mementos included in the auction include framed magazine covers of tennis legend Jimmy Connors, who was one of Perry's heroes.
"It was important to me, that reach, that long reach, to bring somebody like Matthew in, with everything else he had on his plate," Connors said of his friendship with Perry, in a video message that aired Thursday on "GMA."
Apart from the actor's memorabilia, several notable pieces of art that he owned are also up for auction, including two Banksy pieces, "Girl and Balloon" and "Nola (Grey Rain)."
The artwork by Banksy is expected to fetch some of the highest prices during the auction, according to Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions.
"You're gonna get people here who obviously want it because it's a great piece of art, but also, here's your chance, you're helping a really good cause and getting back an amazing thing," Maddalena said.
In addition to supporting the Matthew Perry Foundation, proceeds from the auction will also support the Matthew Perry Foundation Fellowship in Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Grassroots Recovery Grants for frontline organizations, and Healing Appalachia, a sober music festival, according to Heritage Auctions.
Friday's auction comes just over one week after Perry's live-in assistant, 61-year-old Kenneth Iwamasa, was sentenced to nearly 3 1/2 years in prison for administering the dose of ketamine that killed the "Friends" actor.
Iwamasa was the fifth and final defendant in the case to be sentenced in the scheme to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
