Matthew Perry tells Diane Sawyer he would go to open houses to steal pills: 'I think they thought, oh, there's no way that Chandler stole from us' - Yahoo Life

Matthew Perry is sharing much details astir his past and conflict with addiction during an exclusive tell-all with Diane Sawyer.

The Friends prima joined the ABC News anchor for a highly teased one-hour special, wherever helium talked astir his clip connected the deed series, his struggles with substance usage and his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which is retired Nov. 1.

While the prima admitted to Sawyer that "it’s not amusive to speech astir this stuff," helium said helium was speaking retired present due to the fact that helium knows it's "going to assistance people."

During the interview, Perry discussed his archetypal acquisition with drinking and however it made him feel.

"I laid successful the writer and was successful heaven," helium told Sawyer. "I thought to myself, this indispensable beryllium the mode that mean radical consciousness each the time."

He said that by the clip helium was 18, helium was drinking "every day." As helium got older and started booking roles successful Hollywood, the 17 Again prima had 1 line erstwhile it came to his intoxicant use.

"I made a regularisation that I would ne'er portion oregon instrumentality thing astatine work," helium said. "So I would bash that, but I would amusement up blindly hungover. Like shaking and brainsick hungover."

The histrion elaborate however helium began abusing opioids aft helium was prescribed painkillers successful 1997. Eventually, helium said helium was taking arsenic galore arsenic 55 pills per day, and going to large lengths to person the medicine from doctors, including having MRIs done for "fake migraines."

He besides shared that helium would "go to unfastened houses" successful hopes of uncovering the pills successful the bath to "steal them."

"I deliberation they thought 'Oh, there's nary mode that Chandler stole from us,'" Perry admitted.

When the speech turned to his clip connected the series Friends, Perry shared lukewarm memories of his co-stars, who helium appeared with successful the 2021 HBO Max reunion special. The histrion called Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow "maybe the funniest idiosyncratic I’ve ever worked with," and noted that Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer were "hilarious." He besides shared that Schwimmer, who was the interruption retired prima during the archetypal play of the NBC sitcom, encouraged the formed to articulation unneurotic to negociate their contracts arsenic a unit.

Perry besides recalled astatine clip erstwhile Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston confronted him astir his substance usage disorder.

"She was the 1 who reached retired the most, you know," Perry said. "I'm truly grateful to her for that."

Other revelations from the hour-long interrogation see The Odd Couple prima admitting to having tried dating apps.

"I did spell and past I rapidly stopped, it was stupid," helium said of trying to day online.

Perry, who has dated stars similar Julia Roberts and Lizzy Caplan, explained however helium was antecedently stuck successful a atrocious signifier with relationships.

"It was a operation of feeling similar I wasn’t enough, feeling similar I was needy, feeling similar I didn’t substance truthful I’d beryllium successful relationships that were going large — with fantastic women, funny, smart, fantastic — and my subconscious, I’d get frightened and interruption up with them due to the fact that I was acrophobic they’d find retired those 3 things and they would annihilate me," helium told Sawyer.

Perry precocious made headlines talking astir his near-death acquisition successful 2018. He spoke to People mag astir however helium was fixed a "2% accidental to live" conscionable 4 years agone erstwhile was connected beingness support.

Perry, past 49, spent months successful the infirmary recovering from country from what his publicist said was a gastrointestinal perforation. However, successful his caller memoir, the histrion details however helium was really successful the combat of his beingness aft his colon burst from opioid use. He was successful a coma for 2 weeks and connected beingness support. In total, helium spent 5 months successful the infirmary recovering and had to usage a colostomy container for 9 months.

"The doctors told my household that I had a 2% accidental to live," Perry told the outlet. "I was enactment connected a happening called an ECMO machine, which does each the breathing for your bosom and your lungs. And that's called a Hail Mary. No 1 survives that."

Among the disclosures from Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry estimates helium has spent $9 cardinal to get sober. He presently has 18 months of sobriety, meaning helium got sober again conscionable anterior to the 2021 Friends reunion.

"I would fake backmost injuries. I would fake migraine headaches. I had 8 doctors going astatine the aforesaid time," Perry told the New York Times of his doctor-shopping astatine the tallness of his struggles.

Perry, who besides utilized OxyContin and Xanax, said, "I would aftermath up and person to get 55 Vicodin that day, and fig retired however to bash it. When you're a cause addict, it's each math. I spell to this place, and I request to instrumentality three. And past I spell to this place, and I’m going to instrumentality 5 due to the fact that I'm going to beryllium determination longer. It's exhausting but you person to bash it oregon you get very, precise sick. I wasn't doing it to consciousness precocious oregon to consciousness good. I surely wasn't a partier; I conscionable wanted to beryllium connected my couch, instrumentality 5 Vicodin and ticker a movie. That was eden for me. It nary longer is."

Perry told Sawyer that his existent imagination time involves "playing games… watching movies…I privation to enactment out. I privation to play pickle ball. I play it astir each day. That’s wherefore this tan is real."

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