Matthew Perry has revealed how 100 Xanax pills helped him keep up with Bruce Willis' heavy drinking so he could make it on set the following day.
The Friends star made the revelations of prescription drugs use and excessive alcohol consumption when working with Willis on the production of 2000 crime-comedy film The Whole Nine Yards in his eye-opening new memoir - Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
Perry, 53, speaks candidly about his substance abuse, both with drugs and alcohol, which he claims began as early as the age of 14 in the explosive new book which was released on November 1.
He reckons he has spent around $9 million (£7.82 million) in his bid to be clean and sober throughout his life, which has included going to rehab on 15 different occasions. Perry also estimated that he has attended over 6,000 Alcohol Anonymous meetings and attempted to detox 54 times, with many of those coming during his 10-year spell on hugely-popular sitcom Friends.
However, he opened up about how landing the role alongside Hollywood great Willis in The Whole Nine Yards came at a difficult time during his battle with addiction and his desire to befriend and keep up with Die Hard star only made matters worse.
He had began drinking again after a period of being sober before flying to film in Montreal, where Willis would throw "all-night parties at his hotel room" but still be fit enough to shoot scenes the following morning.
Perry admitted he was "drinking way too much" to follow in his new friend's footsteps so resorted to "desperate measures" and picked up 100 Xanax pills, which he took to Montreal, and take one after another heavy session to help him sleep.
He wrote: "I may have been a man with a plan, but I was also ignoring the fact that this was a completely lethal combination."
Perry added: "At night, the parties raged under Bruce's disco ball in Club Z. Somehow, everyone still managed to show up at 6:00 a.m. for work. I say 'somehow,' but I know how: those hundred Xanax worked like a charm."
The 17 Again actor admitted his pursuit not to "suck up" to Willis but befriend him, led to Perry cocktailing alcohol and drugs.
Perry said: "When the veil of Bruce Willis was removed, I just wanted to be his friend. I didn't want to suck up to him like everybody else in the world.
"But there was a big difference between Bruce and me. Bruce was a partier; I was an addict. Bruce has an on-off button.
"He can party like crazy, then get a script like The Sixth Sense and stop partying and nail the movie sober. He doesn't have the gene - he's not an addict."
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