Matthew Perry is sharing his experience of battling addictions in the hope of helping others, after some dark and terrifying moments.
The Friends actor, 53, recently recalled how he once privately spent weeks in a coma after misusing opioids - revealing how his family were told the star had only had a 2% chance of pulling through, following the Chandler Bing actor relapsing amid his battle with drug and alcohol addictions.
Matthew explained how he had to use a colostomy bag for nine months following the near-death experience and has undergone a total of 14 surgeries on his stomach - with the scars from the operations acting as a reminder to stay sober.
Looking back at one point during Friends' 10-year run, Matthew recalls taking 55 Vicodin a day and his weight dropping down to 128 pounds but yet he 'didn't know how to stop'.
The American-Canadian actor's first experience of opioids was in 1997 - three years on from Friends premiering and becoming a global hit - after he suffered an injury following a jet ski accident.
He previously recalled the prescription pills making him feel 'better than I ever felt in my entire life' before he developed a 'big problem' and checked into a rehabilitation centre for the first time in 1997.
But his first stint trying to battle his addiction issues ultimately proved to be unsuccessful, with the actor later going on to tell the Hollywood Reporter: "You can't have a drug problem for 30 years and then expect to have it solved in 28 days. Getting sober is a really hard thing to do."
In his recent interview with PEOPLE magazine, Matthew explained how his problems with alcohol began to appear as he took on the role of Chandler in the iconic sitcom Friends, but he often managed to stay sober throughout some of the seasons aired between 1994 and 2004.
In 2001, Matthew checked into rehab once again for addiction to Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines, and alcohol, as the popular actor attempted to get a grip on his addiction alongside appearing on one of the biggest TV shows in the world.
At one point during his time playing Chandler, the actor was taking 55 Vicodin a day and his weight dropped dramatically to as low as 128 pounds - something that was noted by fans and his castmates, who Matthew describes as being 'understanding, and they were patient' throughout his health battles.
"I tried to talk to him," Joey Tribbiani actor Matt LeBlanc previously told People . "There wasn’t a response. It’s such a personal struggle; they need to bottom out on their own."
"Hard doesn't even begin to describe it," Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay, told the New York Times of the 2000-2001 season.
"When Matthew was sick, it was not fun. We were just hopelessly standing on the sidelines. We were hurting a lot. Matthew is one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. He's charming and hilarious. Most of our hard laughs came from Matthew.''
Chatting about his time on Friends on BBC Radio 2 in 2016, Matthew admitted: "I don’t remember three years of [the show]. Somewhere between Seasons 3 and 6 … I was a little out of it."
Matthew did manage to stay sober at times during Friends' 10-year run, with the actor nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2002 - the year the star remained sober throughout the entirety of filming the penultimate series of Friends.
After Friends wrapped in 2004, Matthew went on to receive critical praise for his role in the TNT movie, The Ron Clark Story - picking up Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations in the process.
A few years on from his impressive career achievements, Matthew checked into rehab once again to prevent the actor from relapsing.
In a statement shared in 2011, the Fools Rush In actor said: "I'm making plans to go away for a month to focus on my sobriety and to continue my life in recovery. Please enjoy making fun of me on the World Wide Web."
During the same year, Matthew used his position as a celebrity spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals to lobby members of Congress in support of funding for drug courts.
In May 2013, The Whole Nine Yards star received a Champion of Recovery award from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for opening Perry House, a sober living home situated in his former mansion in Malibu, California. He went on to close the rehab centre in 2015.
A porn star revealed in 2017 how she feared Matthew had relapsed again, as she revealed the star had allegedly asked her to provide him with '40/50' prescription pills.
The following year - unknown to the public at the time - the actor spent weeks in a coma, after overusing opioids caused the star's colon to burst at the age of 49.
"The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live. I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that's called a Hail Mary. No one survives that," Matthew began when sharing his story earlier this week, going on to explain how he waited to go public with his experience until he was 'safe' from ever going to a 'dark place' again.
"I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people," he added, ahead of his debut memoir coming out next month.
Matthew chooses not to disclose exactly how long he has been sober for, opting to count each day privately, but in 2021 fans grew concerned for the star following a return to the small screen.
As Matthew and his former Friends co-stars came together once again for a reunion in 2021, the Chandler Bing actor's appearance on the HBO special alongside Matt, David, Lisa, Courteney and Rachel sparked some concern from fans - who took to social media to claim the star was slurring at times during the broadcast.
Ben Winston, who directed Friends: The Reunion, hit back at the comments made on social media and stuck up for Matthew, saying: "He was great. People can sometimes just be unkind. I wish they weren't.
"I loved working with him. He's a brilliantly funny man and I thought he had some great one-liners in the show. I felt just happy and lucky to be in his presence and directing him on something like this."
"I've had a lot of ups and downs in my life. I learned a lot from my failures," Matthew admitted in 2015, as he collected the Phoenix Rising Award for helping others struggling with addiction, before adding: "But the best thing about me is that if an alcoholic comes up to me and says, 'Will you help me stop drinking?' I will say, 'Yes, I know how to do that'."
"When I die, I’d like Friends to be listed behind helping people," he poignantly added.
*Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
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