CDMX.- Matthew Perry fought several battles against death: 12 surgeries, 15 visits to rehabilitation clinics and more than 9 million dollars that the actor spent to regain his physical and mental health.
In 2019, he escaped death after his colon ruptured due to excessive opioid use, and doctors gave him only a 2 percent survival rate.
“He was in a coma for two weeks and when he came back he found they had inserted the colostomy bag, which he had to use for the next nine months,” Chron reported.
Only two years had passed since that medical emergency, when Perry suffered cardiac arrest at a rehabilitation center in Switzerland while doctors administered a sedative that interacted with the opioids in his shattered body.
“They managed to revive him, but in the process broke eight of his ribs and forced him to abandon his role opposite Meryl Streep in the film Don’t Look Up, a missed opportunity he described as “heartbreaking,” the British newspaper shared .
Although he became one of the highest-paid actors in the world, earning $1 million per episode of Friends, the money also disappeared while trying to combat addictions.
“He estimates he has made around 6,000 visits to Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as being in rehab 15 times and undergoing 12 surgeries to save his life. He estimates he has spent $9 million trying to stay sober,” the online publication said.
One thing led to another and Perry’s physical problems were discussed in detail for decades, such as his weight, which fluctuated drastically.
“During the show, which ran from 1994 to 2004, Perry weighed between 9.2 and 16.1 pounds. When he was thin, it was painkillers.”
“When he was overweight he was drunk and there were many occasions when he turned up to film hungover,” Chron reported.
His drinking began with cheap beer and wine when he was just 14, and by the time he turned 21 he was already showing signs of getting out of control.
Another time, his lifestyle caused his gums to be so bad that his upper front teeth fell out while he was biting into peanut butter-slathered toast.
He developed an addiction to Vicodin, a painkiller he took shortly after joining the program following a jet ski accident, and although the maximum daily dosage is eight tablets, he took about 55 per day.
“I didn’t do it to get high or high. I was definitely not a party animal. All I wanted to do was sit on my couch, take five Vicodin, and watch a movie. That was heaven for me. “It’s not that anymore,” Perry told the New York Times.
He said he also vomited regularly and had two towels near the bathroom, one to wipe up the vomit and the other to dry his tears.
He co-starred with Elizabeth Hurley in the romantic comedy Serving Sara while using methadone (the heroin substitute also used to get off Vicodin) along with the anxiety medication Xanax and cocaine, all washed down with about a pint of vodka Day.