Here’s how Matthew Perry lost his short middle finger (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Matthew Perry, best known for his iconic role as Chandler Bing on Friends, has a quirky detail about his past that even some of his biggest fans might have missed—he’s missing part of his middle finger. This wasn’t some weird Hollywood plastic surgery move, though. Nope, Perry’s missing fingertip is the result of a childhood accident that left his finger lacerated after getting it caught in a car door. Ouch, right?
It wasn’t long before eagle-eyed Friends fans noticed Perry’s finger seemed a little… off. Sure, Chandler Bing lost a toe tip due to a Thanksgiving mishap involving a dropped knife (a totally Chandler thing to happen), but Perry’s real-life finger loss was a much more innocent—if painful—event. It all started when Perry was just three years old. After shutting a car door on his hand, his middle finger lost the top inch of its tip. Talk about a brutal way to learn about the consequences of clumsy childhood antics.
While the injury might have been enough to sideline a lot of kids, Perry carried on with his acting dreams without skipping a beat. His career only skyrocketed after his Friends days, but that’s when fans started noticing the discrepancy between his middle finger and the other digits. Some sharp-eyed fan put together a photographic collage, pointing out the missing fingertip, and before long, Reddit lit up with speculation.
Despite the attention it garnered, Perry wasn’t exactly telling the world about his missing fingertip. He left the gruesome details to our imaginations but explained the accident years later in interviews. While not obvious, the finger is just a little shorter than it should be—about an inch or so—making it the perfect conversation starter for fans who notice the subtle difference. (You know, the ones who can’t resist a good piece of trivia.)
Matthew Perry’s missing fingertip didn’t stop him from becoming a star. Post-Friends, he rocked roles in Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, and The Whole Nine Yards and voiced video games. But life wasn’t always a sitcom—Perry struggled with sobriety, though he’s doing better now. Fans rejoiced at his reunion with the cast, even if his split from fiancée Molly Hurwitz wasn’t as smooth. “Sometimes things just don’t work out!”
The story of Perry’s childhood accident and missing fingertip is part of Friends lore in its quirky way. It’s funny how a simple mishap ties into his iconic role—Chandler Bing, who also found himself missing a body part due to an unfortunate Thanksgiving incident. Some things just can’t be written, right?
Whether it’s his memorable moments on screen or his surprising missing finger, Matthew Perry’s life and career have been full of unexpected twists. But, hey, he’s still the Chandler we all know and love, with or without the fingertip.
