Matthew Perry Reveals Long, $9 Million Sobriety Journey In New Memoir

Matthew Perry is recounting his infamous struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in a new memoir titled Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing, which will be available in bookstores soon.

The actor is now 18 months sober, and said he was motivated to finally do it after he nearly died from a colon burst due to opioid abuse.

His addiction didn’t just strain his health, friendships and professional life, it was also a significant cost to the actor.

“I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober,” Perry admitted in the memoir.

Perry was addicted to opioids like OxyContin, Vicodin and Xanax and also alcohol, and said he had the beginnings of a drinking problem when he was first cast in Friends that continued throughout the show.

At his lowest point, Perry said he was taking over 50 Vicodin a day. “I couldn’t stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive, so it gets worse and worse as you grow older,” he said.

He also reflected on how much better he performed on Friends when he wasn’t using drugs. “Season nine was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for Best Actor?”

He referred to having a heavy drug addiction on the show as “a full-time job: making calls, seeing doctors, faking migraines, finding crooked nurses who would give me what I needed.”

Even though Perry has been to rehab 15 times in the past, the biggest wake-up call for him was when his colon burst in 2018.

Perry was in a coma for two weeks and spent five months in hospital due to this nearly-fatal injury brought on by opioid use.

He also had to use a colostomy bag for nine months, and shared that a therapist advised him “the next time you’re thinking about taking OxyContin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life.”

For people struggling with relapsing and staying sober, Perry also had some good words for them.

“If you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education,” Perry said wisely. “Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes. You know everything you knew before, and as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”