Matthew Perry never shied away from opening up about his struggles after rising to stardom for his role as Chandler Bing in Friends.
“When [fame] happens, it’s kind of like Disneyland for a while. For me it lasted about eight months, this feeling of ‘I’ve made it, I’m thrilled, there’s no problem in the world.’ And then you realize that it doesn’t accomplish anything, it’s certainly not filling any holes in your life,” he told The New York Times in 2002, one year after getting sober. “I didn’t get sober because I felt like it. I got sober because I was worried I was going to die the next day.”
Perry’s addiction began after a jet ski accident in 1997, when he became addicted to Vicodin. That eventually led to alcohol abuse — so much so that he was often hungover at work. In 2000, he was hospitalized with pancreatitis due to alcohol abuse.
The actor recalled often shaking and sweating on set afterward while going through detox. The season 6 finale of Friends, “The One with the Proposal,” aired in May 2000. The season 7 premiere, “The One With Monica’s Thunder,” aired five months later. However, the story line picked up in the same day, causing fans to notice how much Perry’s appearance had changed during the hiatus.
Although he finally asked for help the next year, he still had a long road to recovery. In 2022, Perry candidly discussed his ups and downs in his memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. He died at age 54 in October 2023 following an apparent drowning.
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