Although many knew Matthew Perry for his iconic role on Friends, his personal life was marked by a long and public battle with addiction before his death on October 28, 2023. In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry candidly detailed years of struggles with drugs and alcohol, alongside repeated attempts at rehabilitation and recovery.
The actor previously revealed he spent an estimated $9 million on treatment, therapy, and programs aimed at staying sober. Despite setbacks, he remained determined to use his experience to help others facing similar battles. “The best thing about me, bar none, is that if somebody comes to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me?’ I can say ‘yes’ and follow up,” Perry said in a 2022 interview with Tom Power.
Since Perry’s death, multiple individuals have been accused of facilitating access to controlled substances—including the now-sentenced doctor Salvador Plasencia, as well as others suspected of supplying the fatal dose. Their arrests and ongoing legal proceedings have cast a spotlight on prescription practices and raised questions about medical oversight in cases of addiction and celebrity access.
Keep reading to learn more about his drug and alcohol abuse, his recovery journey, and how he was doing before his death.
What Did Matthew Perry Say About Addiction When He Was Alive?
Nearly three decades ago in 1997, Perry suffered from a jet ski accident and soon became addicted to Vicodin, a Narcotic drug known to treat pain. After the accident, his Vicodin addiction led to abusing alcohol, per US Weekly, and he checked himself into rehab in Minnesota that year. Despite his attempts to get sober, Perry was only able to stay sober for a short period of time before he would relapse again.
Three years after he went to rehab for the first time, Perry was hospitalized in 2000 for alcohol-related pancreatitis, according to the same outlet. After his two-week hospitalization, Perry later began “detoxing” on the set of Friends, with a notably different physical appearance in seasons 6 and 7. The popular TV star would eventually break his sobriety multiple times and go to rehab over 15 times throughout his journey.
Matthew Perry’s Addiction Recovery Journey
It was not until 2002 when Perry spoke to The New York Times about his struggle and admitted that he needed help.
“When [fame] happens, it’s kind of like Disneyland for a while. For me it lasted about eight months, this feeling of ‘I’ve made it, I’m thrilled, there’s no problem in the world.’ And then you realize that it doesn’t accomplish anything, it’s certainly not filling any holes in your life,” Perry told the outlet, one year after getting sober again. “I didn’t get sober because I felt like it. I got sober because I was worried I was going to die the next day.”
Perry would also battle alcohol abuse throughout his life. He said he began drinking alcohol at 14 years old and soon began drinking “every day” by age 18, per ABC News.
”I had this odd rule that I would never drink on a set,” the 17 Again star said. “But I went to work in extreme cases of hangover. It’s so horrible to feel that way and have to work and be funny on top of that.”
Perry would spend the next two decades of his life in and out of rehab facilities.
How Long Was Matthew Perry Sober?
Perry became sober in 2021, according to Entertainment Tonight, just months before he filmed the viral Friends Reunion HBO Max special. He said he was still sober in his 2022 book, explaining, “My therapist said, ‘The next time you think about taking Oxycontin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life … And a little window opened and I crawled through it and I no longer want Oxycontin anymore.”
Prior to that, in 2018, Perry was hospitalized for three months for a gastrointestinal perforation. He took to Twitter at the time to announce the difficult moment in a humorous way. “Three months in a hospital bed. Check,” he wrote at the time.
How Was Matthew Perry Doing Before His Death?
In November 2022, Perry appeared on The View and told co-host Whoopi Goldberg that he was “doing really well” and that his life was “going great.”
Around the same time, Perry appeared in a candid interview with Diane Sawyer and told her all about his struggles while promoting the memoir. He detailed that he was once taking 55 Vicodin pills per day, was once in a coma for two weeks, and had over 14 surgeries.
“One of the things I have to deal with is that my family rushed to the hospital and were told that I have a 2 percent chance to make it through the night,” he told the reporter at the time. “And, you know, my mom heard that, and my dad heard that.”
At the time, Perry said he was on the “winning side” mentality in his recovery journey. “I’ve surrendered, but to the winning side, not the losing,” he penned in his book. “I’m no longer mired in an impossible battle with drugs and alcohol.”
Following his untimely death in 2023, TMZ reported that the toxicology report for Perry revealed that he died from the “acute effects of ketamine.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).