“When I die, I don’t want 'Friends' to be the first thing that’s mentioned,” Perry said. “If somebody comes up to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me,’ I can say ‘yes’ and I’m gonna live the rest of my life proving that.”
Matthew Perry once said that getting over addiction is the hardest thing a person can do, especially with paparazzi watching.
Before the 54-year-old actor was found dead in a hot tub at his Pacific Palisades residence, Perry had opened up about his struggles with addiction and has said he’s spent as much as $9 million on 15 stays in rehab.
In 2018, Perry came close to death after slipping into a coma for two weeks. He spoke about this brush with death in his memoir released last year. Perry said he had injected so many opioids that his colon burst and was put on life support.
“It’s what doctors and people call a hail mary. It never works,” Perry said. “My parents were told I had a two percent chance of making it through the night.”
While promoting his memoir, Perry talked about the toll addiction took while starring in the hit television series, “Friends.”
“I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 pounds. That’s why I can’t watch the show because I was like brutally thin,” Perry said.
The actor’s weight swings on the show were tied to his addiction.
“When I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills,” Perry wrote in his memoir. “When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol.”
Perry said his addiction was so severe he had no recollection of three entire seasons of “Friends.”
In 2004 Jennifer Aniston broke down in tears while talking to Diane Sawyer about Perry’s struggles.
At the time of his book tour, Perry said he had been 18 months sober, but there was concern for the star during his reunion with the cast of “Friends” in 2021. He seemingly stared off into space as his castmates reminisced on the show, and when Perry spoke, it sounded like he was slurring. Later, he blamed the slurring on emergency dental implants.
During his last public appearance, Perry said that at the end of his life, he would not want to be remembered for his role in “Friends,” but instead for helping people fighting addiction.
“When I die, I don’t want 'Friends' to be the first thing that’s mentioned,” Perry said. “If somebody comes up to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me,’ I can say ‘yes’ and I’m gonna live the rest of my life proving that.”
Perry’s cause of death has been deferred by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office pending toxicology reports and further testing.
