On-screen, Matthew Perry played the witty, comedic Chandler Bing on the long-running, hit sitcom Friends. But off-screen, he was in a constant battle with a serious addiction to drugs and alcohol.
In an article published by People in 2013, Perry really opened up about his struggle with addiction during the shows 10-year run. Perry revealed that he quickly became addicted to prescription medication that a doctor prescribed to him following a jet ski accident in 1997.
"Here, take this,'" the actor recalled the doctor telling him. "I did and I felt better than I ever felt in my entire life. I had a big problem with pills and alcohol, and I couldn't stop."
He added, “It wasn’t my intention to have a problem with it. But from the start, I liked how it made me feel, and I wanted to get more.”
Perry revealed how his addiction became harder to hide from the Friends cast. "I was never high at work. I was painfully hungover. Then eventually things got so bad I couldn't hide it and everybody knew," he admitted.
Perry also revealed how he struggled with alcoholism behind closed doors at the height of fame.
"I was on Friends from age 24 to 34. I was in the white-hot flame of fame. The six of us were just everywhere all the time. From an outsider's perspective, it would seem like I had it all. It was actually a very lonely time for me because I was suffering from alcoholism," said Perry. "It was going on before Friends, but it's a progressive disease."
In an interview with BBC Radio 2, he revealed not remembering filming multiple seasons of Friends. “I think the answer is, I don’t remember three years of it,” he said in 2016. “So none of those… Somewhere between Season 3 and 6… I was a little out of it.”
According to an article published in PageSix, Perry hit rock bottom in 2001 when he showed up to work painfully hungover and was unable to function. He finally called his parents from a Dallas hotel room and asked for help. “It was scary. I didn’t want to die,” he said. “But I’m grateful for how bad it got. It only made me more adamant about trying to get better.”
To help others battling addiction, Perry converted his Malibu, California home into Perry House, a rehabilitation center for men. “When I die, I’d like ‘Friends’ to be listed behind helping people,” Perry said.
What Is Matthew Perry Doing Now?
In October 2019, he made an appearance on Instagram in a Friends cast reunion post by Jennifer Aniston.
In February of this year, he finally joined the platform. He currently has six million followers. In the same month, it was announced that Friends cast is set to reunite for a special on HBO Max. The untitled special will air in May 2020. The long-awaited reunion gives fans a chance to see the gang back together.
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