Once upon a time, Matthew Perry was one of television’s most loved stars. Making his name playing the sarcastic Chandler Bing on Friends won Perry countless fans the whole world over.
However, while Matthew Perry was making a name for himself and a lot of money, he was battling a dark addiction; alcohol and prescription drugs were taking their toll on the actor’s mental and physical health.
From his pill-popping addiction through to several trips to rehab, Perry’s life has never been easy. Let’s take a look at the ugly truth about Matthew Perry.
Matthew Perry Has Part of His Finger Missing
Did you know that actor Matthew Perry has a part of his middle finger missing?
Perry, who spent much of his childhood in Canada after his parents got divorced around the time of his first birthday, lost the tip of his finger when his grandfather accidentally closed a car door on it.
Perry Sat With the Writers of Friends
Matthew Perry is said to have been so funny in Friends, contributing many of his own lines, that he was the only one of the six lead characters that was allowed to sit with the writing team during pre-production.
A Jet-Skiing Accident Started the Downward Spiral
You may assume that Matthew Perry’s drug and alcohol problems might have stemmed from a part-hard lifestyle. You would, however, be wrong. In 1997, a Jet-ski accident led to Perry getting prescribed the painkiller Vicodin.
The doctors treating him gave him the powerful opioid-based painkiller Vicodin. The tablets helped with the pain, but they also caused him to become addicted to prescription pain meds.
But that wasn’t all, Perry’s drinking had started to get worse too.
Before he found international fame in Friends, Matthew Perry already had problems with alcohol. But the trappings and problems that go along with fame had sucked him in, and his drinking became an even bigger problem than it ever was.
Matthew Perry Went to Rehab Several Times
Perry didn’t have the Vicodin addiction for very long before he realized that he had a problem and sought help for it. Back in 1997, Perry spent 28 days at the Hazelden Foundation rehab center in Minnesota. Perry would describe going through addiction as being the scariest thing that ever happened to him. However, his problems with drink and drugs would not end there. They would go on to plague him for many more years to come.
Perry Suffered From Pancreatitis
Sometime after his first trip to rehab, Perry found himself back in the throws of addiction once more and he developed Pancreatitis- a condition brought on by his abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs.
Acute pancreatitis is a condition where the pancreas becomes inflamed or swollen over a short period of time.
A combination of a poor diet and heavy drinking had left him very ill, and the Friends star would lose 20 pounds during his two weeks in hospital.
Perry Crashed His Porsche into a House
Not long after Perry got discharged from hospital, he would go on to crash his Porsche into an empty house. Luckily for him, he was left uninjured.
Perry was on his way to visit his father outside L.A, when he turned a corner on a narrow street and swerved to avoid a courier’s van in the middle of the road. His car would end up crashing into a porch.
There was no sign of any drink or drugs in his system at the time of the crash.
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Perry Can’t Remember Three Years of Friends
Friends is one of the most quoted TV shows that ever existed, but one of its stars can’t remember an entire three years of working on it.
There was a whole three years that became a massive blur to Matthew Perry and everything from seasons three-to-six would get forgotten as his addiction would consume him.
But Perry didn’t ever drink or abuse drugs while on the set of the popular sitcom. He would go on to describe his time on set as being ‘painfully hungover.’
Matthew Perry Became an Advocate for Others Recovering From Drug and Alcohol Addiction
Perry made a third trip to rehab back in 2011. He hadn’t relapsed this time, he was just being proactive. He would take a month out of his life to focus on his sobriety.
After doing this, Perry would become an advocate for those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. He’d go on to speak with lawmakers to help find solutions for dealing with addiction.
Perry Would Turn His Home Into a Rehab Facility
Perry’s work helping others with addiction didn’t stop at just speaking with lawmakers, he would go on to take an even bigger step by opening his former home as a rehab facility in 2013.
Perry’s House was a place for men looking for a 12-step sobriety program with meditation. His four bedroom Malibu home would be used to help other people.
Perry partnered with Earl Hightower, an interventionist and addiction specialist and the two would help countless addicts, many of whom Perry would never even meet.
Obama Gave Perry an Award
In 2013, President Obama gave Perry the Champion of Recovery Award. The awards didn’t end there. In 2015, Perry would also get given the Phoenix Rising Award by the Phoenix House rehab facility.
Matthew Perry Sold His Rehab Facility
All good things come to an end, and after two years of success, Matthew Perry sold his rehab facility “Perry’s House.” There had been financial bumps in the road in 2015, and Perry decided to cut his losses and sell the house for $10.65 million.
According to Perry, the business had just proven to be too expensive to run and the business wasn’t really working. Perry still plans to run a facility to help alcoholics. He is believed to be looking at setting something up in either Studio City or Santa Monica, however, he is yet to formally announce the opening of his next venture.
Perry Once Beat Up Justin Trudeau
That’s right, Matthew Perry once had a fight with Jusin Trudeau and beat him up. Yes! Just Trudeau the Canadian Prime Minister.
Of course, this is going back a few years. In fact, this goes way back to when Perry was a fifth grader in Canada. Perry and his friend Chris Murray both teamed up to beat up prime minister Trudeau because he was better at sports than they were. That said, Perry used to rank nationally for junior tennis.
Perry has since said that Tradeau was probably the only kid in school he could beat up, claiming that he didn’t want to do it.
After Perry told this tale on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Trudeau challenged him to a rematch. It would seem that Perry has wised up somewhat since fifth grade and declined pointing out that Traudeau has an army at his disposal these days.
Nobody Told Perry The Odd Couple Was Axed
In April 2017, Perry tweeted that his face on the Odd Couple stage door had been painted over with green paint and that it was safe to assume that they’d been cancelled. Perry literally revealed to his fans his finding out about the sitcoms run in real time. This may all seem like a horrible way to find out that your show has been canned, however, when you dig a little deeper, it would seem that Perry was either very naive or was being deceptive.
Perry’s co-star Thomas Lennon had already spoken to cinema blend a month previously saying that they would have all liked the numbers to be better, and if The Odd Couple was to come back, nobody would be more surprised than him.
Then there was a report from TV Line back in November 2016 that said that CBD had opted not to order the additional back-nine episodes for the third season of the show, capping it at just 13 episodes. The clues were right there for Perry to read. It does appear that he was playing up the unsuspecting victim role a little. Although maybe they should have had the courtesy to tell him to his face.
A Pornstar Once Claimed Perry Asked Her to Score Him Some Drugs
Back in November 2017, Perry’s claims of sobriety were put into question when a porn star told British newspaper The Daily Mail that Perry had apparently hit her up for drugs. Adult entertainment star Maddy O’Reilly claims to have hooked up with Perry in the past at his home in the Hollywood Hills. She claims that Perry would later go on to text her asking if she had a contact that could score him 40 or 50 vicodins. Perry never responded to the allegation- and he was probably right not to. O’Reilly supposedly claims that the whole exchange started on an Instagram account that was unverified. The story also goes that the pair were meant to meet for dinner before Perry blew her off. There’s a distinct chance that O’Reilly might have been catfished.
Perry Continues to Help Others
Even though his personal life has been filled with a great many ups and downs, Matthew Perry still continues to live with purpose. He believes that since he started trying to help people, his life has more meaning.
So what do you think of Matthew Perry? Witty but troubled genius, or a hero who turned his life around? Let us know in the comments.
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