BIG TERRIBLE THING

Matthew Perry Estimates He Spent $9 Million to Kick Addiction

“I just wanted to sit on my couch, take five Vicodin and watch a movie,” said Perry. “That was heaven for me. It no longer is.”

In his new tell-all, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry shares the direst moments of his decades-long battle with addiction, including a near-death experience in 2018 and losing his entire top row of teeth to a slice of peanut butter toast. Perry, 53, told The New York Times in a recent interview about the book that he spent upwards of $9 million in his attempts to become sober. “When you’re a drug addict, it’s all math,” Perry, who at one point was taking up to 55 Vicodin a day, told the outlet. “I wasn’t doing it to feel high or to feel good. I certainly wasn’t a partyer; I just wanted to sit on my couch, take five Vicodin and watch a movie. That was heaven for me. It no longer is.” The star, who endured some of his lowest moments while still in the limelight, offered insight into his behind-the-scenes battle during filming, including finding himself in a pickup truck on the way to treatment immediately following the Friends wedding between Chandler and Monica. Perry says he’s been clean for the last 18 months, making him newly sober when Friends: The Reunion aired in May 2021.