Matthew Perry Reveals That His “Friends” Co-Star Jennifer Aniston Helped Him Through His Addiction
Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston‘s on-screen chemistry suggests that they were real-life Friends.
The actor who played Chandler Bing on Friends has spoken publicly about his struggles with addiction and how his co-stars, notably Aniston, were there for him.
In a sneak peek of his upcoming interview with Diane Sawyer, Perry said that Aniston has been in constant contact with him since he was in his mid-20s and first started having problems with addiction.
Sawyer said to Perry in the video, “Jennifer, she says, ‘We know you’re drinking.'” “Yeah, just picture how terrifying that moment was,” he said in response.
Also, “She was the one that reached out the most,” he said. I owe a great debt of gratitude to her for it.
The excerpt from their conversation on October 28 lasted just two minutes, but it highlighted some key points, such as the fact that he had taken 55 Vicodin, methadone, Xanax, and a complete quart of vodka in one day at one point during his fight.
Perry told Sawyer, “I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and absolutely alone when I should have been the toast of the town.”
This conversation follows the actor’s recent People cover story, in which he opened up about his struggles with addiction. The cover story was published in anticipation of the November 1 release of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
“I believed being hilarious all the time was how I would get through,” he remarked. My mistake was expecting [friends] to make everything okay. That didn’t happen.
Moreover, he clarified that while Aniston was the one who reached out to him the most, she wasn’t the only one who received support from the Friends cast.
What Perry found most impressive about them were their tolerance and open-mindedness. I liken it to penguins. When one of the penguins is ill or injured in the wild, the others will gather around it, propping it up and walking around with it until it is well enough to walk on its own again. And the cast did that for me in a way.
About Friends
Friends is an American television sitcom that ran for 10 seasons on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, and was developed by David Crane and Marta Kauffman.
The sitcom centers on six friends in their 20s and 30s who reside in Manhattan, New York City, and features an ensemble cast that includes Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer. Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Television, produced the television show. Originally, Kevin S. Bright, Kauffman, and Crane served as executive producers.
