Friends star Matthew Perry has given his first all-encompassing interview detailing how his drug and alcohol addiction secretly nearly cost him his life.
The star, 53, revealed he had just a two percent chance of survival after an opioid addiction caused his colon to burst when he was 49, leaving him in a coma for two weeks and spending months in the hospital – a fact his legions of fans knew. it doesn’t.
After suffering a gastric perforation, Matthew said he had to use a colostomy bag for nine months, now had a total of 14 surgeries on his abdomen and 15 rehabs to get clean.
Matthew Perry nearly died of opioid overuse and spent weeks in a coma
Now sober, the beloved actor, best known for playing the hapless Chandler Bing, has detailed his decades-long struggle to free himself from the disease of addiction.
When he was first hospitalized, he said, “The doctors told my family I had a 2 percent chance of being alive. I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. Nobody survives that.’
He told PEOPLE: ‘I wanted to share when I was safe not to go back into the dark side of everything.
He said: ‘I had to wait until I was reasonably safe sober – and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction – to write everything down. And most importantly, I was pretty sure it would help people’ – pictured September 2021, (left)
“I had to wait until I was reasonably safe sober – and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction – to write everything down. And most importantly, I was pretty sure it would help people.”
Speaking of his starring role in Friends, when he was 24 his alcohol addiction started to surface.
He said he could handle it, but he was “anchored in a lot of trouble” by the time he was 34. He said there were years during that time when he was sober and in fact he was sober all season. , the year in which he was nominated for Best Actor.
At one point during his Friends career, he admitted to taking 55 Vicodin a day and losing weight to 128 pounds, yet “didn’t know how to stop.”
He said the disease was getting worse and worse and progressive as he got older, noting that his friends from the cast were “understanding and patient.”
A constant struggle, Matthew says, “I’m pretty healthy now.” He chooses not to say how long he is sober, but “every day counts.”
His stomach is covered in scars from his 14 surgeries and said they serve as a reminder to stay sober.
He said his therapist had told him he might need an ostomy bag for the rest of his life if he returns to drugs, which will help him avoid relapse.
Matthew famously told the New York Times in 2002, a year after he went sober: “When [fame] happens, it looks like Disneyland for a while. For me it lasted about eight months, this feeling of “I made it, I’m excited, there’s no problem in the world”.
‘And then you realize it doesn’t pay off, it certainly doesn’t fill any gaps in your life. I didn’t get sober because I felt like it. I got sober because I was afraid I would die the next day.’
It is no accident that Chandler is a man who tries to deter his own human emotional feelings by laughing. That’s what I’ve been doing for years. I’ve tried to pretend to be a joker, kind of like going out with me is like a vacation. But that could only get me this far.’
He said in a statement in 2011: “I am making plans to go away for a month to focus on my sobriety and continue my life in recovery. Have fun making fun of me on the World Wide Web.”
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, he said, “I’ve had many ups and downs in my life and many wonderful awards. The best thing about me is when an alcoholic comes up to me and says, “Will you help me stop drinking?” I’ll say, “Yes. I know how to do that.”‘
In 2021, the cast of Friends returned to the screen for the first time in 17 years after a year of delay due to the Covid pandemic.
After a year of delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the cast of Friends reunited on screen for the first time in 17 years.
Ben Winston, who directed Friends: The Reunion, said of those who commented on Perry’s performance on the HBO Max special: “He was great. People can just be rude sometimes. I wish they weren’t.
‘I loved working with him. He’s a brilliantly funny guy and I thought he had some great one-liners on the show. I just felt lucky and happy to be in his presence and pointing out something like this to him.”
after having first tasted alcohol at age 13, continued to drink, and in 1997 was described using opioids to ease pain after a jet ski accident.
Speaking to People in 2013, he recalled taking his prescription pills without question: “I did and I felt better than I’ve ever felt in my entire life. I had a big problem with pills and alcohol, and I couldn’t stop.’
He entered rehab that same year in 1997, but said, “You can’t have a drug problem for 30 years and expect it to be resolved in 28 days. Getting sober is very difficult.’
Matthew has documented his journey in a memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing (available Nov. 1), describing his journey.
Role: Matthew said the illness was getting worse and worse and progressive as he got older, noting that his friends from the cast were “understanding and patient” (pictured second from left with the cast)