Matthew Perry says his Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston actually was there for him when he was battling addiction.
In a trailer launched Friday of Perry’s Oct. 28 sit-down with ABC News journalist Diane Sawyer, Sawyer asks the actor concerning the time Aniston — whom he calls Jenny — confronted him. She mentioned, as Sawyer places it, “We know you’re drinking.”
Perry says sure.
“Imagine how scary a moment that was,” he provides. “She was the one who reached out the most, you know. I’m really grateful to her for that.”
The actor, who’s struggled with addiction all through his profession, has mentioned that he had an issue with substances even on the peak of his profession. He writes about his experiences in his new e-book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, which comes out Nov. 1.
Perry advised People this week that his alcoholism was simply starting when he was forged as Chandler Bing on the phenomenally well-liked sitcom. As he defined to the journal, issues escalated and, 4 years in the past, he practically died. While he advised the general public that he was being handled for a gastrointestinal perforation, the reality was that his colon had burst from utilizing opioids. Perry was in the hospital for 5 months — two weeks of which he was in a coma — and wore a colostomy bag for 9 months.
In the brand new clip, he tells Sawyer that he additionally was as soon as taking “55 Vicodin a day,” in addition to a number of substances that she lists: Methadone, Xanax and a full quart of vodka.
“At the time I should have been the toast of the town,” Perry says. “I was in a dark room meeting nothing but drug dealers and completely alone.”
Perry famous to People, nonetheless, that his co-stars in the Friends forged — Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer — had been all supportive, “understanding” and “patient.”
“It’s like penguins,” Perry mentioned. “Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up. They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That’s kind of what the cast did for me.”
He’s mentioned that he is sober now, and declined to say how lengthy that had been the case. But he does depend the times.
“It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education. Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes,” he mentioned. “You know everything you knew before, as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”
Matthew Perry – The Diane Sawyer Interview airs Friday, Oct. 28 at 9 p.m. on ABC.
Discussion about this post