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Matthew Perry, here in 2015, died on October 29.
PEOPLE – He has said it several times in recent years: “When I’m dead, I don’t want Friends is the first thing we remember. The most important thing for Matthew Perry, who died on Saturday October 28 at the age of 54, is that the public remembers his fight against addiction and especially how he helped others to overcome it.
The actor, known for his role as Chandler Bing in the American sitcom Friendsrecounted in numerous interviews and even more in his memoirs Friends, my loves and this terrible thing, his descent into hell with the arrival of fame. He even almost lost his life.
“I had a big problem with alcohol and drugs, and I couldn’t stop”he told the magazine People from 2013. In his book published in 2022, he talks about how he started drinking a lot during the first two seasons of Friends, then taking pain pills after a skiing accident in 1996.
Matthew Perry came close to death in 2018
His addictions led him to at least 15 stays in detoxification centers. In 2018, his colon burst due to his opioid use. He spent two weeks in a coma, stayed in hospital for five months, and came very close to death, as he told Canadian journalist Tom Power during a conference.
“My parents were told I only had a 2% chance of making it through the night. I’m going to have to live knowing that my parents heard those words.”explained Matthew Perry in this interview conducted in November 2022 (from 42 minutes in the video above, in English).
That same year, he again assured the magazine People be “pretty healthy”. Also interviewed by the New York Times in October 2022, the actor specified that he was ” sober “ for 18 months and estimated that he had spent “around $9 million” to get out of it.
The “Perry House”
After having managed to talk about it and having tried to get rid of his addictions, the actor decided to help people in distress because of alcohol or drugs. He notably transformed his Malibu home into a drug treatment center called the “Perry House” in 2013, before selling it in 2015.
“Now, when someone comes to me and says ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me?’, I can do it. It’s the best thing.”declared Matthew Perry to Tom Power barely a year ago. “Don’t keep it a secret. Raise your hand and say you are hurting. Ask for help. And never leave an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting without knowing when the next meeting is.”he added by way of advice.
Her ” dream “ was to continue to help people in distress, he declared in the same interview. “ I want that to be the one mentioned (when I’m dead). And I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving it.”
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