Matthew Perry reveals how his “Friends” co-star Jennifer Aniston was instrumental in his battle with substance abuse.
Matthew Perry rose to fame as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom “Friends.” Perry received numerous accolades for the series, which aired from 1994 to 2004, and went on to star in several comedic roles following “Friends.”
Matthew discusses his past battle with drug and alcohol abuse in his upcoming memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”
During his time on “Friends,” Perry recalled when Jennifer Aniston, whom he had a crush on at the time, confronted him about the issues the cast had noticed.
Matthew recalled:
“I had long since gotten over her – ever since she started dating Brad Pitt, I was fine – and had worked out exactly how long to look at her without it being awkward, but still, to be confronted by Jennifer Aniston was devastating. And I was confused.”
He asked Jennifer how she found out. He wrote:
“‘We can smell it,’ she said, in a kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer. ‘I know I’m drinking too much,’ I said, ‘but I don’t exactly know what to do about it.'”
Matthew Perry described in his memoir how his fluctuating weight on “Friends” was a dead giveaway of his substance abuse. In some seasons, his weight would drop dangerously due to his pill addiction, while in others, alcohol would cause him to be bloated depending on what he was taking.
However, the now 53-year-old actor revealed that he nearly died when he was 49 after his colon burst due to a drug overdose and was placed on an ECMO machine.
Matthew Perry recalls his “Friends” co-stars Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc being understanding and patient with him during his recovery.
Perry explained:
“It’s like penguins. Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up. They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That’s kind of what the cast did for me.”
“Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” Matthew Perry’s memoir, will be released on November 1st.