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How Friends' Chandler Changed As Matthew Perry Battled Substance Abuse

Highlights

  • Matthew Perry's battle with dependancy affected his portrayal of Chandler Bing on Friends, however the character itself didn't exchange.
  • Perry had a rule not to drink or do medication whilst operating at the display out of admire for his co-stars, but he ceaselessly confirmed as much as work hungover or shaking from withdrawal.
  • Perry went to rehab a couple of instances all through the years, however in spite of everything accomplished sobriety in 2021, just in time for the Friends reunion. He wanted to be remembered for his paintings outdoor of the show.

Matthew Perry had been open about his struggle with addiction since many years before his mysterious passing. His Friends co-stars even helped him through it. Still, he admitted to simply being sober in season 9 of the display. Lisa Kudrow once stated that there came some extent the place hanging out with Perry wasn't fun.

In an interview promoting his hard-to-read memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing (2022), the actor was requested how his substance abuse problems affected his portrayal of Chandler Bing. His answer shocked a large number of fans...

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Matthew Perry's Addiction Didn't Change Chandler

During his look on Q with Tom Power in November 2022, Perry was requested, "How did Chandler change as the playing person him starts to struggle with addiction more and more during the [show]?" The Growing Pains alum briefly answered that the character "didn't change" however that "what was changing was me."

"I had a rule that I would never drink or do drugs while working," Perry persisted, "because I had too much respect for the five people that I was working with. So I was never wasted when I was working. Also, it would totally turn off the timing and it would just be awful."

However, he went to work "extremely hungover [...] and at one point I was shaking so much that if I was going to cross, going from the bookshelf to the table, I'd have to kind of quickly do it and put my hand on the table so I wouldn't shake." Despite that, he reiterated that "Chandler never changed."

"The writing never changed," he defined. "It was my ability to pull off this addiction that I didn't understand." It wasn't until years later whilst in a detox ward in a treatment center that he realized "drinkers think they're drinking to escape but what they're really doing is trying to get over a disease they don't know they have," from an Alcoholics Anonymous book — the primary time he'd ever learn one.

Matthew Perry used to be "grateful" Jennifer Aniston was once " the one that reached out the most " to him throughout his habit struggles while filming Friends .

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Matthew Perry Went To Rehab Several Times During Friends

In his interviews, Perry always said how his appearance changed significantly all through Friends. He mentioned when he was once thin, he was once hooked on tablets; when he'd placed on a couple of kilos, he was drinking. As said in his e-book, his habit began after he won prescription painkillers after a jet ski coincidence at the set of Fools Rush In within the past due '90s.

He went to rehab for the first time that same yr. But his sobriety did not closing long. He was out and in of treatment amenities within the next 20 years. He used to be in the end blank by means of 2021, the yr the Friends cast reunited onscreen for the primary time after 17 years. Here's a timeline of Perry's restoration:

Year

Rehab/Hospitalization + Duration & Cause

Affected Project

1997

28 days at a Hazelden Betty Ford facility in Minnesota; Vicodin habit

Fools Rush In came out; Perry relapsed on ingesting whilst filming Friends

2000

2 weeks at the health center for alcohol-related pancreatitis

Perry was once cleansing at the set of Friends in fall that year; The Whole Nine Yards came out

2002

2 months at a non-public rehab heart; alcohol and prescription painkillers

Serving Sara needed to pause production; Perry returned to Friends after his remedy

2011

Perry introduced a month-long focus on recovery

Perry starred within the sitcom Mr. Sunshine, which best aired from February to April that year.

2013

Perry based Perry House, a sober living home for males in Malibu (energetic till 2015)

Perry had a habitual position in The Good Wife

2018

Three months on the health facility after undergoing operation for gastrointestinal perforation

Perry had simply played Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot in 2017

2021

Perry declared that he was once after all sober after a total of 15 rehab stints, 14 addiction-related surgical procedures, and six,000 AA conferences.

Perry was fully sober when he appeared on Friends: The Reunion

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Matthew Perry Wanted To Be Remembered For His Work Outside Of Friends

During his chat with Tom Power, Perry stated: "When I die, I don't want Friends to be the first thing that's mentioned. I want (helping people) to be the first thing that's mentioned, and I'm going to live the rest of my life proving that." True sufficient, celebrities and enthusiasts alike have introduced his book back to No. 1 at the Amazon's Best Sellers list.

Lisa Kudrow admitted she "didn't really try to intervene or confront" Matthew Perry about his dependancy in her heartbreaking foreword for Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing .

Speaking in regards to the 17 Again actor's legacy, his longtime buddy and former Friends co-star Hank Azaria mentioned: "As an actor, he was so brilliant. I just wish we – the world — I and the world — could have gotten what the rest of his career would’ve been." Azaria also revealed that Perry helped him get sober.

"The night I went into AA, Matthew brought me in," The Birdcage star recalled in an Instagram video. "The whole first year I was sober, we went to meetings together… I got to tell him this, as a sober person, he was so caring and giving and wise, and he totally helped me get sober. And, I really wish he could've found it in himself to stay with the sober life more consistently."

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