The actor who played Chandler Bing will publish his autobiography, in which he will open up about all the health problems he had while filming the successful comedy
Actor Matthew Perry signed a multimillion-dollar contract to publish an autobiography, in which he will tell of his struggle against drug and alcohol addiction and behind-the-scenes details of “Friends.”
In this memoir, Perry will tell the behind-the-scenes version of him on the comedy, as well as his personal struggles with substance abuse, which began after the actor was prescribed Vicodin for injuries sustained in a jet ski accident in 1997.
The press release states that the autobiography will be “honest and self-aware,” will be “told with her signature humor,” and will “vividly detail her lifelong battle with the disease and what fueled her despite apparently having all".
It is the first memoir written by one of the stars of the hit NBC comedy that aired from 1994 to 2004. “Her life is incredible. It's different," said the editor, Megan Lynch, responsible for the book that will be released by the Flatiron Books label and added that "in this autobiography, fans will find the actor's point of view because it takes humor, catharsis and finally coming to terms with their history".
And she added that memoirs have the unparalleled potential to bring people together, “something that's really invigorating right now.”
During the television reunion of “Friends” in May, Matthew already gave some hints about the episodes of anxiety that he had suffered during the first years of the series, something that even his colleagues were surprised by. “You never told us,” Jennifer Aniston told him. The interpreter admitted how much he suffered when the public's response was not what he expected. “Every night he felt like he was going to die if people didn't laugh. Sometimes I would say a sentence and they wouldn't react and I would sweat and start having convulsions. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get, it scared me,” he acknowledged.
The decision to write his memoirs comes just months after breaking off his engagement to his girlfriend, producer and literary agent Molly Hurwitz, with whom he had been in a relationship for more than three years. Few details emerged about this relationship, but the truth is that the good news had made Friends fans happy, since he was the only actor in the series who had not yet passed through the altar.
After the broadcast of the long-awaited reunion, there was talk of Perry's possible health problems. However, days later it was learned that it was not at all a relapse in his addictions, but that the actor's entourage had to clarify that his pronunciation problems were due to an emergency visit to the dentist.
Perry, who was in and out of rehab from 1997 to 2001 for his addictions, revealed years ago that he had “fuzzy” memories of the period between the third and sixth seasons of the hit TV show, in which he played Chandler Bing.
In his early days, Perry wanted to be a successful actor, but he also craved the fame that accompanied that success. “You want attention, you want money, and you want the best seat in the restaurant,” he confessed to The New York Times in 2002. At the peak of his career, he fell into drugs and alcohol. “I didn't get sober because he wanted to, but because I was worried about dying the next day,” he was honest in the same interview.
The Hollywood star said that he became addicted after a water skiing accident. “I couldn't stop,” the actor told People magazine. “Eventually things got so bad that I couldn't hide it, and then everyone knew.”
“I'm a private person, but I was on a program that thirty million people watched. What was happening to me was public,” he acknowledged at the time. He went a long way to recover and be “free” from all types of substances, having to enter rehab up to two times: “You can't have a drug problem for 30 years and then expect it to be solved in 28 days.”
