Matthew Perry admits Friends fans can see the journey of his drug addiction on the show (Picture: Empics/Rex)
He may have been one of the biggest stars on the planet at the time, but Matthew Perry says his spiral into drug addiction can be seen on screen when people rewatch Friends.
Playing Chandler Bing during the 10-season run of the series, which ran from 1994 until 2004, behind-the-scenes he was battling serious dependency problems.
In his upcoming autobiography Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew wrote that his addictions at the time could be charted by observing his varying weight and beard on the show.
‘You can track the trajectory for my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season,’ Page Six shared from an extract.
‘When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills; when I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills.’
Things got so serious at one point that the actor was nearly killed by his drink and drug abuse.
Matthew struggled with addiction during his time on Friends (Picture: Publicity Picture/ Channel 4)
During his lowest points, Matthew was taking 55 Vicodin a day and at one point weighed 128lbs.
Ahead of the release of his book, he’s also revealed details including the fact that he spent at least $9million (£7.9million) to get sober, that his colon burst from opioid overuse, and that his chances of survival from that medical emergency in 2018 was only 2%.
While he eventually recovered, it came after a five-month hospital stint.
The Friends cast stepped in to try and help Matthew when they saw he was struggling (Picture: Jon Ragel/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Although that incident came years after Friends wrapped, during filming, Matthew has also said that his co-stars tried to step in to help.
On one occasion, Jennifer Aniston is said to have appeared in his trailer and told him ‘in a kind of weird but loving way,’ that they knew he was drinking once again, and that ‘we can smell it’.
‘The plural “we” hits me like a sledgehammer,’ he wrote, via the New York Times, explaining that the cast confronted him in his dressing room on another occasion.
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Recently celebrating 18 months of sobriety, Matthew recently told People that he was ‘pretty heathy now’.
‘If you don’t have sobriety, you’re going to lose everything that you put in front of it, so my sobriety is right up there,’ he said.
‘I’m an extremely grateful guy. I’m grateful to be alive, that’s for sure. And that gives me the possibility to do anything.’
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing will be released on November 1.
Worried about drugs?
Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email [email protected], message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
Adfam has local groups for families affected by drugs and alcohol and DrugFam offers phone and email support to people affected by other people’s drug or alcohol misuse.
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‘You can track the trajectory for my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season’