LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kerry Gaynor is a Santa Monica-based hypnotherapist who was hired by the deceased 'Friends' star Matthew Perry to help him quit his nicotine addiction after the latter had received a stern warning from his pulmonologist.
Gaynor once made an eerie prediction about what could happen if the actor did not stop smoking cigarettes, reported The Messenger.
In his memoir, 'Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,' which was released in 2022, Perry talked about his first couple of meetings with the hypnotist. He was sure that he could not be hypnotized but admitted that Garner's methods eventually did seem to work.
Matthew Perry's sessions with Kerry Gaynor
During the first session, the actor said that he "felt nothing," which led to Gaynor trying a new approach in the second.
"During the second session Kerry brought out every scare tactic he could muster," Perry wrote.
"I was naive to think that the next cigarette wouldn't kill me. (I didn't.) I could have a cigarette right now, have a heart attack, and if no one was around to call 911, I was a goner. My next cigarette could make my lungs not function permanently, and I would have to live out the rest of my days carrying oxygen tanks and breathing only through my nose."
Perry was discovered dead in his jacuzzi on October 28 at the age of 54. He was reportedly struggling with his smoking habit prior to his death. Given the circumstances, the scenario that was supposedly laid out by the hypnotist seems quite unnerving.
Matthew Perry found smoking to be the hardest to quit among his addictions
Perry stated that the hypnotism initially worked and he stopped wanting cigarettes completely. However, he resumed the habit, three days after a painful surgery to replace all his top teeth as they fell out while eating toast.
"After that, I basically began stalking Kerry Gaynor. I would meet with him any chance I could, then buy a pack of cigarettes and have one, and then wet the rest of the pack under the faucet."
Admitting that the hypnotism never worked the same way again, Perry concluded the chapter with plans for "the complete rebuilding of a man."
"I didn't know this man, but he seemed to be a nice guy, and it looked like he had stopped beating the s**t out of himself with a baseball bat finally. I was very eager to see who this man was!"
