Matthew Perry was driven back to rehab after marrying Monica on ‘Friends’
Matthew Perry reflected on returning to rehab after filming an iconic “Friends” scene at the “highest point” of his career.
The actor told the New York Times on Sunday that his character, Chandler Bing, married Monica Gellar, played by Courteney Cox, in the NBC show’s Season 7 finale before he was “driven back to the treatment center … in a pickup truck helmed by a sober technician.”
Perry added, “[I was] at the height of my highest point in ‘Friends,’ the highest point in my career, the iconic moment on the iconic show.”
The “Fools Rush In” star, 53, went on to speak to the outlet about his “exhausting” opioid addiction while promoting his upcoming memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
Perry “would wake up and have to get 55 Vicodin that day and figure out how to do it,” he explained.
“When you’re a drug addict, it’s all math,” the “Odd Couple” alum said. “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. That was heaven for me. It no longer is.”
The “17 Again” star notes in his book that “there is a hell,” according to the publication.
“Don’t let anyone tell you different,” Perry reportedly writes. “I’ve been there; it exists; end of discussion.”
The “Go On” alum gave more insight into his addiction struggles on Sunday, from Jennifer Aniston confronting him about his alcohol abuse to spending nearly $9 million on “trying to get sober.”
Perry “nearly died” a few years ago when his colon burst, and having to use a colostomy bag to hold his feces helped him get sober.
“My therapist said, ‘The next time you think about taking OxyContin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life,'” the “Mr. Sunshine” alum, who is 18 months clean, told People magazine Thursday.
“And a little window opened, and I crawled through it, and I no longer want OxyContin.”
As for his future, Perry is open to getting married and having children. “I think I’d be a great father,” he said on Sunday.
The Emmy nominee proposed to Molly Hurwitz in 2020, but the literary manager broke off their engagement the following year.
