Matthew Perry Explains Why He Feels So Much Pain When Watching Old Episodes of ‘Friends’

Matthew Perry has a long history of substance abuse and drug addiction, which started when he was prescribed Vicodin following a jet-ski accident in the late-1990s. At the time, he was finally making a name for himself with his role as Chandler Bing on Friends. He spent 10 years portraying the beloved character. 

Fans might not have realized it at the time, but he was struggling with opioid and alcohol abuse a majority of his time on the show. In fact, he once admitted that there was a three-year period that he doesn’t remember while filming the show – adding that it was somewhere around the third to sixth seasons. 

His drug abuse has continued to haunt him in the years since, but the 53-year-old has supposedly been sober since last year as he attempts to turn a new leaf over in life. He wants to continue to use his platform to advocate against drug abuse and tell his recollection of how drug abuse has impacted his life. 

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In a recent interview with CBC Radio’s Tom Power, Matthew Perry gave some insight as to why he has a hard time watching old episodes of Friends. I can’t watch the show, because I was brutally thin and being beaten down so badly by the disease,” he said last month. His weight had gotten as low as 145 pounds.

“I could tell season by season by how I looked, and I don’t think anybody else can, but I certainly could. That’s why I don’t want to watch it because that’s what I see — that’s what I notice when I watch it,” Perry added. Whether he was on cocaine, alcohol, or opiates, he could tell anytime he watches an episode. 

Despite his struggles watching the show in the past, Matthew Perry said it might be time to face that fear. He understands how the show has affected others in such a positive way and is appreciative of the people he worked with on the show – recognizing that it’s an “important” and “special thing” to many. 

“I think I’m going to start to watch it because it really has been — first of all, it was an incredible ride — but it’s been an incredible thing to watch it touch the hearts of different generations,” he said. “It was really funny and all the people were nice, and I’ve been too worried about this, and I want to watch Friends.”

Matthew Perry Narrowly Died in 2018 Due to Drug Abuse

Several years ago, Matthew Perry was hospitalized after suffering from a gastrointestinal perforation as a result of opioid overuse. At one point, doctors told his family he had a 2% chance to live. While he spent five months in the hospital recovering – two of which were spent in a coma – he eventually survived.

“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,” he said ahead of the release of his new memoir – Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, which was released on November 1st.

Perry has 14 scars on his stomach due to the health scare which serves as a gentle reminder of why he should never touch Oxycontin again – adding that the memory of wearing a colostomy bag also helps him avoid drug use. “All I have to do is look down,” the 53-year-old actor told PEOPLE two months ago. 

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Nonetheless, Matthew Perry confirmed that he is pretty healthy right now and while he didn’t give an exact date of sobriety, he has allegedly been sober since last year and still counts the days – one by one. We wish Perry the best of luck moving forward and hope his journey to full recovery is successful.