‘I could tell season by season by how I looked’
Matthew Perry once revealed the heartbreaking reason that he was unable to rewatch episodes of Friends.
As reported by American media by a source within local law enforcement, Perry was found dead on October 28 in his home. A 911 call “was received by Los Angeles Police, at 4.07pm local time (12.07am UK/Ireland time). The incident at the star’s Pacific Palisades home in LA was treated as a water rescue. The source said there was no apparent foul play and no confirmed cause of death. An investigation is ongoing.”
The actor shot to international stardom thanks to his role as Chandler Bing in the hit US sitcom. Alongside his five co-stars, he became one of the most famous faces on the planet as millions tuned in every week for the show.
To this day, Friends is still enjoyed by many, with new generations of fans constantly discovering the show.
But since the series came to an end in 2004, Perry opened up about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction throughout his time on the show.
He admitted last year that he can’t bring himself to watch back old episodes of Friends because he can spot what kind of substances he was taking in each season.
Speaking to CBC, the then-53-year-old said: “I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30 million people — and that’s why I can’t watch the show, ‘cause I was brutally thin.”
“I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, ‘Drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine’.
“I could tell season by season by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see.”
Recalling on particularly bad hangover he experienced while on set, Perry said he struggled to stand up straight.
“At one point I was shaking so much that if I was gonna go from the bookshelf to the table, I’d have to quickly do it and put my hand on the table so I wouldn’t shake,” he said. “It got that bad.”
He said: “You know, the thing that always makes me cry – and I hope I don’t cry here – is that it’s not fair. It’s not, it’s not fair.
“It’s not fair that I had to go through this disease while the other five didn’t. They got everything that I got, nut I had to fight this thing – and still have to fight this thing.”
His addictions escalated over the years, and in 2018 he went into hospital and was left with a 2 percent chance of survival after opioids caused his colon to burst and left him in a two-week coma.
The actor also said he had to go to rehab 15 times in a bid to get clean; his first bout was in 1997 and then again in 2001 and in 2011.
He revealed that he had to have 14 surgeries on is stomach and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months; he said his stomach has a number of scars from the multiple surgeries.
If you, or anyone you know, are struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, you can find a number of organisations who can offer support or provide advice here at mind.org. Alternatively you can find information about addiction support on the NHS website.
