Struggling With His Demons
Friends was a worldwide smash hit, regularly appearing at the top of the ratings in multiple countries throughout its ten year, award-winning run. The show made household names – and multi-millionaires – of its six principle stars. Since the show ended, stars Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer have enjoyed vastly different levels of success.
Aniston, for example, became one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, whereas Matt LeBlanc rather bizarrely ended up as the host of the UK motoring show, Top Gear. But what of Matthew Perry? How did he fair after the curtain came down for the final time on Friends?
When Friends started in 1994, Perry was already struggling with alcoholism. By 1997, he had added a painkiller addiction to his list of problems.
A Painful Accident
He was never drunk on set – or so he claimed – but he has admitted to being ‘horribly hungover’ for most of the show’s ten-year filming.
So what caused Perry to become addicted to painkillers? Well, in 1997, the actor was involved in a jet-ski accident that left him in severe pain. “Here, take this,'” he says his doctor told him.
Checking Into Rehab
“I did and I felt better than I ever felt in my entire life. I had a big problem with pills and alcohol, and I couldn’t stop.”
Realizing he had a problem, the actor sought help at the Hazelden Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Minnesota. “I don’t think there’s anything in the world that I can’t face, having faced that,” he later said. “That was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me.
He Barely Remembers Filming Friends
You get a whole new respect for yourself and life when you go through something that difficult.” But would his stint in rehab put him back on the straight and narrow? Unfortunately not.
Season 3 to 6
At the height of his addiction to prescription painkillers and booze, Perry was pretty much going through the motions on Friends.
Indeed, several years later he would admit that he couldn’t remember working on the show. “Oh, my goodness,” he said of those forgotten years.
A Poorly Received Move To Movies
“I think the answer is, I don’t remember three years of it. So none of those… somewhere between season 3 and 6.”
Amazingly enough, Perry was able to carry on working throughout his painful years of addiction. He even managed to appear in a few movies, though they were rarely well received by critics.
Returning To Rehab
Of The Whole Nine Yards, the year 2000 movie he starred in alongside Bruce Willis, one critic said, “Almost everybody wants Matthew Perry dead in The Whole Nine Yards. This would be a good thing if it were to stop him from making more movies.”
Perry returned to rehab in 2001. “Matthew has every intention of completing his treatment so that he can continue his dream of entertaining people and making them laugh,” said his publicist at the time.
Didn’t Stop Production
“He appreciates everyone’s concern and thanks them for respecting his privacy.”
With Friends in full production during his rehab, the network was worried about how this news would affect their biggest TV property.
A Successful String Of Cameos
Luckily, producers were able to work around Perry’s rehab and production of the show was not held up for any significant amount of time.
Despite his struggles with drink and drugs, Perry has found success appearing in smaller roles and cameos on TV shows. His appearance on Growing Pains was well received, as was a guest spot on Friends co-star Courtney Cox’s Cougar Town.
Not As Much Success In Starring Roles
His stint on The West Wing also gained him universal praise and an Emmy nomination.
Sadly, Perry’s leading TV roles haven’t fared so well. His 2011 sitcom Mr.
17 Again
Sunshine was panned by critics and canceled before the first season had even finished airing on TV. Another of his sitcoms, Go On, was again canceled after only one season after critics labeled it ‘clunky’ and ‘tough going’.
In 2009 Perry starred alongside Zac Efron and Leslie Mann in comedy ’17 Again’, a film about a father who in his younger years had a bright future but let his personal life ruin it.
A Deadly Diagnosis
Ring any bells…
Thanks to his continuing alcohol abuse, Perry was eventually diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. A vital component of the digestive system, the pancreas can become inflamed if a person continuously hits the bottle.
Third Time In Rehab
The condition is extremely painful, and Perry ended up spending two weeks in hospital having the condition treated. He has suffered several more bouts of this debilitating illness since his initial diagnosis thanks to continued alcohol abuse.
Perry made a third trip to rehab in 2011, long after Friends had finished. Again plagued by the demon drink, Perry issued a statement telling fans he was making plans to go away for a month to focus on his sobriety and to continue his life in recovery.
Starting His Own Rehab Center
“Please enjoy making fun of me on the world wide web,” he joked. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the end of his problems…
Perry found much greater success when he opened up his former home as a rehab center offering a twelve-step program for men addicted to drugs and alcohol. Perry’s House, as it was called, proved to be a huge success, and Perry was highly praised for opening it.
Awarded By The President
“Matthew is an ambassador of possibility for a vast group of people,” said addiction specialist Earl Hightower. “People he’ll never meet will get services because he championed their cause.”
For his work in rehabilitation, Perry was awarded a Champion of Recovery award by the Obama administration in 2013. “During my darkest times, I never could of imagined receiving an award at the White House,” he said. Another accolade followed in 2015 when Perry was handed the Phoenix Rising award from the rehab center, Phoenix House.
Selling The Center
“I’m an award-winning alcoholic. I shouldn’t be getting an award; Phoenix House should be getting an award,” Perry joked after receiving the award.
Unfortunately, Perry’s rehab facility hit difficulties in 2015 and he ended up selling his former home in which the center was based for $10.6 million. “That was a Malibu beach house, and it was too expensive to run and the business didn’t really work,” Perry later told The Hollywood Reporter.
He Once Beat Up The Canadian Prime Minister
“So we’re looking at smaller places in Santa Monica and Studio City. I’m keeping the business going because I like it; it’s a good way to go help alcoholics.”
Around the same time Perry was setting up his rehab facility, future Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was winning the leadership of his party. Perry revealed that he’d beaten up the world leader … when they were kids. “I was reminded of this by my friend Chris Murray, who was also in the fifth grade in Canada,” Perry said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “We both beat him up.
The Odd Couple Was Not Well Received
I think he was excelling in a sport that we weren’t so it was pure jealousy.” Trudeau offered Perry a rematch, but the actor declined. “I was like, ‘Dude—you have an army at your disposal,'” Perry joked. “I’m not going to accept the challenge!”
Perry returned to the screen in 2015 in The Odd Couple alongside co-star Thomas Lennon. Based on the 1965 Neil Simon play, The Odd Couple was yet again heavily criticized.
Nobody Told Him About The Odd Couple’s Cancellation
“Perry’s line readings are stiff, and his reaction shots can be seen from outer space,” wrote film and TV critic Vicki Hyman. “He acts as if he has no faith in the material, which is a wonder since he developed the remake himself.”
The Odd Couple was canceled after just thirty-eight episodes and three seasons. Nobody bothered to inform Perry about this, however, and he showed up for work without knowing his show had been canned. “My face on the Odd Couple stage door has been painted over with green paint,” he tweeted.
The Friends Star And The Porn Star
“I think it’s safe to assume that we have been canceled. #subtle.” Ouch!
Perhaps one of the strangest episodes in the recent life of Matthew Perry occurred in 2017 when he was accused by adult film actress Maddy O’Reilly of trying to hit her up for prescription drugs. Perry strenuously denied the accusation, and O’Reilly’s accusation that he’s shared a romantic liaison with her, and friends and supporters hope he’s telling the truth.
His Play Didn’t Do Well
If not, it would indicate that this troubled actor is yet again falling off the wagon.
To add to his woes in 2017, Perry debut as a playwright didn’t go down as well as he hoped. The London production of his play The End of Longing was yet again mauled by critics, as his recent TV work had been before it. “It might be quite courageous, were it not so awkward to watch — a star vehicle with its wheels falling off, and its star never quite in control.
Friends Reunion
As it is, it’s hard not to feel that both actor and audience are being exploited,” said Dominic Cavendish, theater critic of the Daily Telegraph. “There’s little disguising the fact that it is essentially a dud.”
When asked about doing a Friends reunion one day, Perry was really against the idea: “I have this recurring nightmare—I’m not kidding about this. When I’m asleep, I have this nightmare that we do Friends again and nobody cares,” Perry said. “We do a whole series, we come back, and nobody cares about it. So if anybody asks me, I’m gonna say no.
The thing is: we ended on such a high. We can’t beat it. Why would we go and do it again?”