Nearly five years after actor Luke Perry suffered a fatal stroke, Brian Austin Green explains why the injury that led to his death was the best outcome for his friend.
“He died from complications of brain swelling and things that happened with the stroke itself. There was a part of me that was really upset and disappointed, of course, because it was serious.” [as] He was. Because people have strokes all the time people don’t die from strokes all the time. And he was 52 years old at that point,” Green, 50, explained on “Comfort Food with Kelly Rizzo.”
“He was young. So usually, people have strokes and then they recover. It can take years sometimes…but they recover.”
Luke Perry dead at 52: Look back on his life in the spotlight
Brian Austin Green, left, believes Luke Perry’s death from a stroke may have been better than the arduous recovery he would have faced had he survived. (Getty Images)
“There was a part of me with him, with his loss, where I felt like this was probably the best thing to happen to him. Because Luke was so—Luke was so proud of who he was. He was so quick—”He was so sweet. And he was very generous. And… not having any of those things, missing any of those things at all would have hit him hard.” “I think it would probably take 4 years to recover. Or close to that. “It would have been very difficult for him.”
“For me, it had to be 100 percent or not. There was no middle ground,” Green added of his “Beverly Hills 90210” co-star.
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Brian Austin Green, left, and Luke Perry starred on “Beverly Hills, 90210” together. (Mikkel Roberts/Sigma via Getty Images)
At the time of Perry’s death, Green had just suffered from a neurological condition that left him experiencing “stroke-like symptoms.” His recovery took nearly four and a half years, which he said was mostly private.
“When I heard he had a stroke. My first thought was, ‘I’ve just been through this. I’ve just been through, you know, all the speech therapy, physical therapy, all the things you need to do. So who better to help him with this than me?’ ” He remembers his initial thoughts. “Then he passed.”
Ian Ziering, Tori Spelling, Shannen Doherty, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Gabrielle Carteris and Luke Perry pose for a photo from the 1991 film “Beverly Hills, 90210.” (Mark Sennett/Getty Images)
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“For me, he was the person who would outlive all of us,” Green continued. “When he died, I was so sad. I was incredibly shocked… He was a brother to me. Literally, I knew him before we started doing ‘90210’. And he’s someone that I’m really proud of, because it reflects my life after him, because he inspired me so much.”
“I’m so grateful that I had the time with him. And I had the life with him. And I had the true knowledge and love with him. On both sides. I’m so lucky that he loved me the way he loved me,” she said of their close friendship.
Luke Perry died in 2019 after suffering two strokes. (Ron Davis/Getty Images)
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“Honestly, in grief, you look for those silver linings,” Green told Rizzo, who unexpectedly lost her husband, Bob Saget, to a head injury. “It’s one of the things that I think makes it so individual.”
“It’s like you have to find things that bring you comfort in going through a terrible situation,” he said of Perry’s grief. “If this thinking helps you through the process at all, that’s what you think. Some people might say, ‘Oh, but that’s a dismal view’ and ‘It would be better if he was in any situation.’”
“And it’s like, ‘Okay, you’re going to feel it. That’s good. You’re doing it.’