Matthew Perry Recalls Struggling With Addiction During 'Friends,' Getting Down to 128 Pounds
etonline.comMatthew Perry is opening up about his struggles with addiction. Ahead of the release of his memoir, , the 53-year-old actor tells about how his struggles with alcohol and opioids impacted his time on .Perry was 24 when he was cast as Chandler Bing on the long-running sitcom.
At the time, his struggle with alcohol wasn't totally unmanageable. «I could handle it, kind of,» he says.Eventually, though, things spiraled to the point where he was taking 55 Vicodin a day and was down to 128 pounds.«I didn't know how to stop,» he admits. «If the police came over to my house and said, 'If you drink tonight, we're going to take you to jail,' I'd start packing.
I couldn't stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.»The years on weren't all negative though, as Perry recalls, «There were years that I was sober during that time.
Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, 'That should tell me something.'»Through it all, Perry says, his castmates "were understanding, and they were patient."«It's like penguins.
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