FRIENDS star Matthew Perry has died in a shocking accident months after the release of his tell-all memoir.
The actor, who spoke openly with fans about his addiction struggles, left longtime supporters in mourning.
Matthew, 54, who played Chandler Bing, died on October 28 in an apparent drowning incident.
Authorities were called to the home in response to a cardiac arrest, TMZ – which first broke the news – reported.
The actor was found dead inside a jacuzzi.
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Per the outlet, no drugs were found at the scene and foul play isn't suspected.
The actor has spoken openly about his addiction struggles.
He shared a deep dive into his private life in his memoir, titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
In 2018, when Matthew was 49, he suffered a gastrointestinal perforation as a result of extreme opiate usage.
He was given a two percent chance of living after he was comatose for two weeks, and he had to use a colostomy bag while his colon, an imperative digestion organ, healed, he told GQ.
While his body was relying on the bag, he woke up covered in his own feces "50 to 60" times during the five-month hospital stay.
"'I had sh** all over my face, all over my body, in the bed next door.
"When it breaks, it breaks. You have to get nurses," he told the outlet.
Unfortunately, the colostomy bag removal operation was unsuccessful and in its place went an ileostomy bag.
Matthew, however, suggested this was far more difficult, saying it was "ten times worse".
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He explained: "You have to deal with an ileostomy bag 18, 19 times a day. A lot of suicides with an ileostomy bag. People can't take it."
After the ileostomy stint, he has been lucky to be able to live without its assistance for years since, though he said he has "plenty of scars."
This isn't the first medical horror that the star suffered as a result of his addictions to opiates and alcohol, the latter forming around the time he was 24 years old and working on Friends, while opiates became a problem for him after a ski accident he suffered from at 27, resulting in him being prescribed Vicodin for pain.
The New York Times reported Matthew lost all of his teeth after biting into a piece of peanut butter toast.
He revealed he carried them in a baggie in his jeans pocket on the way to the dentist to get them fixed.
His addiction increased in proportion to astronomic success of Friends.
At the height of the sitcom's success, Perry said he was consuming 55 Vicodin a day and weighed 128 pounds.
To promote the book, he also chatted to Diane Sawyer about some of the more painful details of his past, which saw him at one point drinking a liter of vodka a day.
In the interview, fans saw him discuss his relationship with Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston, during their time on the show.
"At the time I should have been the toast of the town, I was in a dark room meeting nothing but drug dealers and completely alone," he told Diane at the time.
He recalled how Jennifer approached him one day on the set of Friends, where she bluntly revealed to the actor that she and the rest of the cast "know you're drinking."
"Imagine how scary a moment that was," he shared before talking more about Jennifer's continued support during his recovery.
He tried to hide his condition, but his yo-yo-ing weight from series to series alarmed both his co-stars and his fans, previously saying about the time “I was out of control and very unhealthy," and joking “I returned to my original birth weight.”
By 2001 he was drinking a liter of vodka a day. He told People: “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 are progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.”
After 15 rehab stays, the TV personality maintained his sobriety and was determined to stay on course.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
