Matthew Perry has shared a tongue-in-cheek guide to how you can tell what drugs he was using during his years in Friends, simply based off his appearance in the show.
Perry, 53, laid bare the intimate details of his battle with substance abuse in his upcoming memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which drops on November 1.
In a snippet obtained by Page Six, the actor spoke out about how his addiction to opioids and alcohol affected the way he looked on screen, and revealed how those watching the NBC comedy series can figure out how severe his drug use was based off his weight and beard length.
‘When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills; when I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills.’
The actor became an international sensation practically over night after he landed the role as Chandler Bing in Friends in 1994.
But while he came off as the hilarious and heartwarming guy who always had a smile on his face on the screen, behind-the-scenes, the star was facing a downward spiral of drug addiction, alcohol use, and overdoses that left him with just a two per cent chance of survival.
Perry told People magazine recently while discussing his book that he turned to drugs to deal with the immense fame and pressure that came with starring in one of the most popular shows of all time – revealing he needed 14 surgeries on his stomach and has been in rehab 15 different times as a result of his drug and alcohol use.
In 1997, Perry got into a jet ski accident and was prescribed Vicodin, a powerful and addictive pain medication – which would eventually turn into in a years-long battle with addiction.
