“Friends” actor Matthew Perry said he was certain that hell exists, claiming to have “been there” during his long struggle with substance abuse.
“There is a hell,” the actor said in his new book — “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir” — which is due out on November 1. “Don’t let anyone tell you different. I’ve been there; it exists; end of discussion.”
Perry, 53, said that he got to the point where he was taking 55 Vicodin a day — in addition to drinking alcohol and taking Xanax — and explained that after certain point, being an addict became all about “math.”
He would get up in the morning, he said, and the only thing on his mind was how he might get those 55 pills. It was never about partying — the “Friends” star said he had never been one to go out and party. His goal, rather, was simply to take five Vicodin so that he could sit on the couch to watch a movie.
“When you’re a drug addict, it’s all math. I wasn’t doing it to feel high or to feel good. I certainly wasn’t a partyer; I just wanted to sit on my couch, take five Vicodin and watch a movie,” he said. “That was heaven for me. It no longer is.”
The “Fools Rush In” star admitted that over the years, he sunk millions into trying to overcome addiction. “I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober,” he said — and while he made it clear that he understood the advantage and the resources that fame provided, he also noted that fame meant every failure made another headline.
Perry sat down for a full interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer ahead of his book release, and he told her that a near-death experience — brought on by over three decades of substance abuse — had turned him around.
After suffering a perforation in his colon, Perry was put on an ECMO machine that functioned for his heart and lungs — a move that he referred to as “a Hail Mary” — and he had to wear a colostomy bag for nearly a year after that. “The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live,” he explained.
The thought of going back to the colostomy bag was what ultimately scared Perry into staying sober — he explained that his therapist had told him to picture the colostomy bag every time he wanted a pill. “A little window opened, and I crawled through it, and I no longer want OxyContin,” he said.
