Not Once, Matthew Perry Had Multiple Near-Death Experiences; Struggled With Substance Abuse Too

Friends actor Matthew Perry has passed away at 54 and the world is heartbroken. The actor was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles residence. Back in 2022, Perry released his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing and revealed several facets of his life.

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Did you know Matthew¡¯s heart stopped breathing briefly when he was 49?

In his memoir, Perry revealed fighting for his life after OxyContin led to his colon burst. The actor shared that his heart stopped working during the surgery and revealed, ¡°The doctors told my family that I had a two-percent chance to live. That's the time I really came close to my life ending.¡±

Matthew spent almost two weeks in a coma and had a colostomy bag for a year.

For almost five minutes, Perry¡¯s heart had stopped beating after doctors gave him propofol. He said, ¡°I was given the shot at 11:00 A.M. I woke up eleven hours later in a different hospital. The propofol had stopped my heart. For five minutes. It wasn¡¯t a heart attack ¡ª I didn¡¯t flatline ¡ª but nothing had been beating.¡±

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The actor revealed the doctor did CPR on Perry for five-six minutes, ¡°beating and pounding my chest. If I hadn¡¯t been on Friends, would he have stopped at three minutes? Did Friends save my life again?"

Do you know Matthew started drinking at the age of 14?

Perry talked about his substance abuse in his memoir and wrote, "Acting was another one of my drugs. And it didn't do the damage that alcohol was already starting to do. In fact, it was getting harder and harder to wake up after a night of drinking. I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble.¡±

Matthew Petty took 55 Vicodin a day which ended up making him gain weight.

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He said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know how to stop. If the police came over to my house and said, ¡®If you drink tonight, we¡¯re going to take you to jail,¡¯ I¡¯d start packing. I couldn¡¯t stop because the disease and the addiction were progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.¡±

Did you know Perry was admitted to rehab more than 15 times?

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The Emmy-nominated actor shared that his Friends co-stars were ¡°understanding and patient¡±. Referring to penguins, Perry said, ¡°It¡¯s like penguins. Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up. They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That¡¯s kind of what the cast did for me.¡±

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