Matthew Perry was once one of television's most beloved actors.
For 10 years, he played the unforgettable and sarcastic Chandler Bing on Friends.
"Alright kids I gotta get to work.
If I don't input those numbers … it doesn't make much of a difference."
But even though his career was unstoppable at the time, Perry was facing some pretty
difficult battles in his personal life.
Here's what you might not know about Matthew Perry's life away from the cameras.
Accidental addiction
Matthew Perry was first introduced to heavy pharmaceuticals after he was injured in a
jet ski accident in 1997.
For pain relief, his doctor prescribed him Vicodin, and rather than terminating its use
after the prescription ran out, Perry became hooked on the medication.
He told People Magazine, "I felt better than I ever felt in my entire life.
I had a big problem with pills and alcohol, and I couldn't stop."
Things were complicated by the success of Friends, which, despite its cozy title and
close cast, made him feel alienated from the world.
He explained, "From an outsider's perspective, it would seem like I had it all.
It was actually a very lonely time for me because I was suffering from alcoholism.
It was going on before Friends, but it's a progressive disease."
As a result of his lengthy struggle with substance abuse, Perry has admitted that his memory
of production on certain seasons of his hit series is very fuzzy.
He told The BBC, "I don't remember three years of [Friends].
So none of those… somewhere between season 3 and 6."
As Perry had previously admitted, his co-workers on the show were increasingly aware of and
affected by his substance use.
He told People, "I couldn't stop.
[...] Eventually things got so bad that I couldn't hide it, and then everybody knew
[…] I was never high at work.
I was painfully, painfully hungover."
Road to rehabilitation
Shortly after his narcotics use became a dangerous habit, Matthew Perry checked himself into
rehab in Minnesota and got clean.
"The fact that I never tried heroin is the reason that I'm able to sit here.
I'm positive."
But by 2001, he found himself entering treatment once again, and the decision caught the network
off guard, as the show had been in the middle of production at the time.
It's not clear whether his second stint in rehab actually affected the outcome of the
show's episodes, but he did start to suffer soon after.
Pain in the gut
In between his first and second trips to rehab, Perry began suffering from pancreas problems,
and the ailment became so severe that ended up hospitalized for two weeks with acute pancreatitis.
As a result of his condition, Perry lost 20 pounds.
And although the illness is often associated with alcohol and drug abuse, Perry insisted
he wasn't using pills at the time of his hospitalization, saying, "in my case, it was hard living and
drinking hard and eating poorly.
You play, you pay.
But there were no pills involved.
I learned my lesson at Hazelden."
Following his release from the hospital, Perry crashed his car into an empty house.
He was uninjured in the snafu, and neither drugs nor alcohol were found in his system
at the time.
He told Us Weekly, "The irony was terrible.
I was going to hang with my father at his place outside L.A. I made the first corner
around my house on these really narrow streets, saw a courier van in the middle, swerved to
the right and — well, I don't really know what happened — I crashed into this porch."
However, it wouldn't take long for Perry to face his demons once again.
In 2011, he made a third trip to rehab — but insisted he was going away to stay sober.
He told TMZ, "I'm making plans to go away for a month to focus on my sobriety and to
continue my life in recovery."
The third time must have been a charm for Perry because soon after that stint, he began
his work helping others successfully recover from drug and alcohol abuse.
Helping others
Perry went on to found a rehabilitation facility of his own called Perry's House, which entailed
him opening his Malibu mansion to fellow recovering addicts.
As a result of his work, Perry was awarded the Champion of Recovery Award from the Obama
Administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Perry said of the recognition, "During my darkest times, I never could've imagined receiving
an award at the White House."
Perry eventually did sell the home Perry's House was located in because of its expensive
locale and also put his Los Angeles home on the market.
But he told The Hollywood Reporter he plans to relocate his treatment facility to another
area.
As he told The Hill, "My life has a lot more meaning now that I try to help people.
It's also a selfish thing — it makes you feel better than anything else will."
Perry might have had trouble remembering everything about those middle seasons of Friends, but
he obviously still remembers some of its most valuable lessons.
"Well it made you feel good, so that makes it selfish.
Look there's no unselfish good deed, sorry."
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