Matthew Perry makes three surprising revelations from his memoir

Matthew Perry has recently left the entertainment industry in shock after passing away at the age of 54 on October 28.

A year ago, in November 2022, the Friends star released his explosive memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.

In the book, Perry opened up about past relationships, alcohol as well as painkillers addiction and number of near-death experiences.

Here are three of the surprising revelations from Perry’s memoir.

Drug addiction while filming Friends sitcom

Perry disclosed that he used to take 55 strong painkillers a day to get through filming the NBC hit series.

The late actor penned in his memoir, “When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills; when I have a goatee, it’s a lot of pills.”

However, Perry added that he “never” was high or drunk during filming.

Perry’s relationship with actress Julia Roberts

The late actor revealed in his memoir that he had six-month relationship with “beautiful and brilliant” Pretty Woman actress, who he’d met before her guest appearance on season two of Friends.

Sharing details about their split in April 1996, Perry mentioned, “Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me. I had been constantly certain that she was going to break up with me.”

“So instead of facing the inevitable agony of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts,” he said.

Perry’s near-death experience

The late actor pointed out that he “nearly died” four years ago when he was 49 due to colon burst after opioid overuse.

Perry reportedly spent two weeks in a coma, five months in a hospital and nine months using a colostomy bag. His family were told he had a “two per cent chance of living”

Although the late actor was due for surgery to alleviate his pain, he took hydrocodone the night before his surgery at a rehab in Switzerland.

However, the hydrocodone he took before his surgery day combined with anaesthetic propofol during the procedure and reportedly stopped his heart for five minutes.

“It wasn’t a heart attack – I didn’t flatline – but nothing had been beating,” he added.