The famed Friends actor Matthew Perry spent a full fortnight in a coma when his drug and alcohol abuse was at its worst.
The former Chandler Bing actor shared his terrifying near-death experience with People while promoting his brand-new novel Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which is set to hit bookstores in less than two weeks.
When his colon burst in 2018 as a result of regular opiate use, he said, “The doctors warned my family that I had a two percent chance to live.”
“I was placed on a device is known as an ECMO [extracorporeal membrane oxygenation] machine, which handles all of your heart’s and lungs’ breathing for you. That is referred to be a Hail Mary. Nobody gets through that.”
Perry had 14 surgeries on his stomach in addition to having to live with a colostomy bag for nine months after this gastrointestinal perforation.
He would take 55 pills a day because of his extreme Vicodin habit during the Friends craze, which finally caused his weight to drop to 128 pounds.
“I was unsure of how to stop. I would begin packing if the police showed up at my house and threatened to put me in jail if I drank tonight. Because the illness and addiction are progressive, I was unable to stop. As a result, as you age, it only becomes worse.”
On Friends, Matthew Perry portrays Chandler Bing and Jennifer Aniston portrays Rachel Green.
The actor has learned during this reflective moment that “everything starts with sobriety, because if you don’t have sobriety, you’re going to lose everything that you put in front of it, so my sobriety is right up there,” he said, adding that he is “very healthy” these days.
Added him: “I’m a really appreciative person. I’m glad to be alive, that much is certain. And that gives me the freedom to do whatever I want.”
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