‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry Lucky To Be Alive?
Friends star Matthew Perry known best as Chandler Bing admits that he’s lucky to be alive in his new memoir. As fans of the actor recall, his new memoir titled Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing launched recently. Prior to the release of his memoir, the actor admitted that he very nearly died once. He explained that his colon burst as a result of his opiate use. Doctors told him he had a 50 percent survival rate.
In his memoir, Matthew Perry is breaking his silence on all the things he never shared about his crippling addiction to drugs. Most importantly, the Friends star wanted the world to know he was lucky to be alive.
Friends star Matthew Perry lucky to be alive
Within his memoir, Matthew Perry gets candid about how lucky he is to still be alive. He is breaking his silence for the very first time about how he spent two weeks in a coma. And, how he spent five grueling months fighting to stay alive after struggling with gastrointestinal perforation. The terrifying incident happened back in 2018 and he ended up having a colostomy bag for the following nine months.
Speaking to People Magazine about his memoir, Matthew Perry revealed he was told by doctors there was a 98 percent change he was going to die.
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. No one survives that.”
Now, it is no secret that the Friends star struggled with substance abuse. But, no one knew how grueling his struggle with addiction was. Moreover, no one knew how dire the situation was involving his health
When did his downward spiral begin?
Matthew Perry was just 24 years old when he started heavily drinking. It was at that time that he joined the cast of Friends back in 1994. It was in 1997 following a jet ski accident that he was introduced to prescription painkillers. He was prescribed Vicodin and he quickly became hooked on it long after his injuries healed.
Realizing he had a problem, Matthew checked himself into rehab. He spent then ext 20 days at Hazelden Betty Ford Center located in Minnesota.
Sadly, Matthew Perry says rehab did not resolve his issues. He admits that three years of filming Friends was a blur as he continued to battle his drug addiction. The Friends star tried to hide his problems. His dramatic changes in weight, however, alarmed both fans and his co-stars.
I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble. But there were years that I was sober during that time. Season Nine was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, ‘That should tell me something’.
When Matthew Perry was at his worst
Matthew Perry recalls his darkest day being one when he consumed 55 Vicodin pills in a 24-hour window. He knew he had spiraled out of control and he joked that he had lost so much weight he wasn’t too far off from his birth weight.
The year 2001 rolled around and he found himself drinking a liter of vodka every day. The actor told People Magazine he just reached a point where he couldn’t stop.
He explained: “If the police came over to my house and said, ‘If you drink tonight, we’re going to take you to jail’, I’d start packing.”
I couldn’t stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.
Matthew Perry likened his cast mates to penguins noting they were always there to love and support him during this difficult battle. In total, the actor has been to rehab 15 times. He isn’t sure exactly how long he’s been sober, but he believes every day of sobriety matters.
The Friends star also reveals he has scars from 14 different operations that serve as constant reminders to stay sober.
Did you have any idea how difficult Matthew Perry’s battle with drug addiction really was? Let us know in the comments down below. And, keep coming back to TvShowsAce for more.
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