Matthew Perry, the late star of “Friends,” felt like he was being his addictions before he was found unresponsive in a hot, “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison revealed in a recent interview.

“He felt like he was beating it,” Morrison, Perry’s stepfather, told “TODAY” show co-anchor Hoda Kotb on an episode of her “Making Spaces” podcast. “But you never beat it, and he knew that, too.”

The “Friends” actor was found in October at an L.A.-area home of an apparent drowning. First responders reacted to a cardiac arrest call, and Perry was found in a jacuzzi. No drugs were found at the scene. The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office determined Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing, died of “acute effects” of ketamine

“It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time, and there’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain,” Morrison said. “It’s not easy.”

Morrison, who is married to Perry’s mother, Suzanne Perry Morrison, told Kotb that his stepson “didn’t get to have his third act, and that’s not fair.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.