The reunion of the cast of Friends actors, who have barely changed over the years, is one of this year's bombshells.
The series began airing on September 22, 19947, and ended in 2004, 17 years later, the long-awaited Friends reunion has come with a lot of secrets that we did not know, such as why Matthew Perry took drugs. Matthew Perry confesses why he took drugs: "he felt like he would die if the public didn't laugh".
Friends will go down in television history for being one of the most emblematic and iconic series of the 90s. All kinds of celebrities of the moment who wanted to make a cameo in the series paraded through Monica's house, such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, and Isabella Rosse, among many others.
Emotion and a lot of nostalgia are what Friends: The Reunion has brought to 2021. During the actors' reunion, many things that fans did not know about the series were talked about and that until now were open secrets within the cast, such as the fact that the actors of Rachel and Ross were really in love (although they never had anything) or that Monica and Chandler were cousins.
And precisely about the actor who played Chandler Bing, we have been able to learn a little more. Matthew Perry had a well-known problem with drug use while his career was ascending to stardom on Friends, a problem that affected his physical appearance in the series and was noticeable in his character, who was the fun friend of the series. Although Matthew Perry played the most charismatic character, the actor fought against his own inner demons.
He is the one who has been the quietest throughout the meeting, but he finally ends up revealing how bad he had it while the series was being recorded: "I felt like I was going to die if the audience didn't laugh," he said. Over the years he has known that this was not healthy at all, but his insecurity and fear of failing as a big star led him to drug use: "Sometimes he would say a line and if the audience did not react by laughing as he thought he would,, he began to sweat and went into convulsions," he stated to the astonishment of all his colleagues.
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow immediately said that they had no knowledge that this was happening and deeply regretted that they had not been able to do anything about the feeling of collapse that Matthew Perry felt every night of recording. At that moment Jennifer Aniston consoles him and we see how the funniest of friends is the one who was hurt the most by fame, now wrapped in a halo of melancholy.
Matthew Perry paid the price of fame with drugs
Matthew Perry dreamed of being famous and longed for recognition, money, and everything that comes with becoming a big television star. However, his insecurities caused him to fall into problems with alcoholism and abuse of toxic substances such as Vicodin, a painkiller to which he became addicted after suffering a skiing accident.
It is not the first time that Matthew Perry has talked about his problems with drugs. The actor who played Chandler admitted in 2002, just a few years before Friends ended, to the American newspaper The New York Times that he started drinking because "he felt like he was going to die the next day," not because he felt like doing it. He also said that at that time each actor was already earning a million dollars per episode.
Matthew Perry entered rehab for the first time in 1997 due to his alcoholism, during the third season of Friends. He also had to undergo pancreatitis surgery in 2000 due to his excessive drinking and after all this, he sought help from his family. His parents admitted him for two months in 2001 in a detoxification center: "He was in a very big problem; my life was hell," he said in 2015 during an interview.
The actor has recognized that addictions can only be overcome if the patient has the will and has always appreciated the support of the fans, who were quite concerned about the drastic change that the actor has shown in his physique over the years. He claims to have never had problems with drug use again and to have recovered, but during the meeting, Matthew Perry appears slurring his words, and fans have pointed to this as a possible sequel to his excesses in those years. However, the production company has assured that the actor was undergoing dental treatment at the time the Friends reunion was recorded.
