When he was addicted to prescription medications, Matthew Perry would attend open houses in order to take tablets from medicine cabinets.
In an interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News that aired on Friday, Perry discussed the horrible realities of his prior addiction and recovery. On November 1, the actor’s memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” will be published.
After injured himself on a jet ski while filming the 1996 romantic comedy “Fools Rush In,” Perry reported taking his first pill. He disclosed to Sawyer that he eventually ingested 55 Vicodin every day, a dependency that drove him to steal drugs from other people’s houses.
“I believe the strangest thing I did was go to open houses on Sundays, check the bathrooms to see what drugs they had, and then steal them,” Perry said. “And I believe they believed, ‘Well, there’s no way Chandler stole from us’.”
The former “Friends” actress reportedly admitted to faking migraines and undergoing MRIs while knowing “nothing was wrong” to obtain prescription medicines.
In 2001, the actor revealed that he was consuming Xanax, methadone, and a quart of vodka daily. After filming the romantic comedy “Serving Sara” in the same year, his speech was so slurred that he had to re-record his dialogue.
During his lengthy recovery, Perry acknowledged to Sawyer that he attended 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, went to rehab at least 15 times, and underwent detoxification 65 times.
During the conversation, Perry said that he nearly passed away after his colon ruptured due to narcotic abuse. The actor disclosed he was in a coma for two weeks and then hospitalized for five months. Perry stated in an interview with People earlier this month that he was required to use a colostomy bag for nine months following the near-death incident.
Perry also shared with Sawyer that, during his initial therapy, a therapist confirmed that his addiction was not his fault.
He remarked, “That was the first time I recognized that none of this insanity was my will or what I desired; it was not my fault.”