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Matthew Perry opened up about the cost of battling drug and alcohol addiction for more than half of his life.
The ‘Friends’ alum tells the New York Times, “I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober…"
Perry opened up about how he began drinking at age 14 and eventually started using benzodiazepines and opioids, including Vicodin, Xanax and OxyContin. He said it’s not only rehab stints that he’s had to pay for but also the medical emergencies caused by his drug use.
In 2018, his addiction led to a hospitalization. Perry suffered from pneumonia and an exploded colon. He had a brief stint on life support, spent two weeks in a coma and nine months with a colostomy bag. He required more than a dozen stomach surgeries.
He opens up about his struggles in his new memoir, titled “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” where he reveals that he has been sober since early 2021, shortly before the “Friends” reunion aired that May.
It was Perry’s costars who helped him realize he needed help. He starred as Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends” between 1994 and 2004, and he went to rehab twice during the 10-season run, first in 1997 and again in 2001.
Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay on the sitcom, wrote the forward for his memoir, out November 4. She tells the Times, “It’s a hideous disease, and he has a tough version of it. What’s not changing is his will to keep going, keep fighting and keep living. I love Matthew a lot. We’re part of a family. I’m basically ending this with ‘I’ll be there for you’ [the ‘Friends’ theme song], but it’s true. I’ll always be there for him.”
She isn’t the only one. Perry also revealed that Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel Green, was one of the first to truly confront him about his drinking.
He said, “She was the one that reached out the most. I’m really grateful to her for that.”
Perry added: “Imagine how scary a moment that was.”
Source: People/ US Weekly.
Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.