Nov. 1 marks the first anniversary since his book hit shelves, which is just days after the beloved actor died at age 54 from an apparent drowning.
Matthew Perry always had been open about his battle with drugs and alcohol through the years, but he went even deeper in his 2002 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
Nov. 1 marks the first anniversary since his book hit shelves, which is just days after the beloved actor died at age 54 from an apparent drowning at his California home. Amid the tragedy, some of his quotes are resurfacing.
“For all of the sufferers out there. You know who you are,” the dedication reads.
Before his prologue, written by “Friends” co-star Lisa Kudrow, he also listed two quotes from Robert Frost and James Taylor, respectively.
“The best way out is always through,” Frost’s reads, giving insight into Perry’s journey to getting sober.
Taylor’s notes: “You’ve just got to see me through another day.”
In the book, the “Fools Rush In” actor said that he attended 6,000 AA meetings, went to rehab 15 times, and had been in detox 65 times. The actor also estimated he spent around $9 million trying to get clean.
His addiction to Vicodin began following a 1997 jet-ski accident, and he’d go on to admit he attended open houses to steal medications from stranger’s homes at the height of his fame.
In 2019, his colon also burst because of his past opioid use. He was left in a coma for two weeks and hospitalized for five months while using a colostomy bag. Perry, then 49, recalled the doctor telling his family he had a “2% chance to live” at the time.
“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead,” the first page of his memoir reads.
“If you like, you can consider what you’re about to read to be a message from the beyond, my beyond.”
As he played Chandler Bing for 10 seasons — from 1994 to 2004 — Perry said that at one point was taking 55 Vicodin pills a day and had dropped to just 128 pounds.
