Matthew Perry Was Given A 2% Chance To Live After His Colon Burst From Opioid Use

Matthew Perry’s struggles with addiction is hardly breaking news but I had no idea he was messed up this bad. According to an interview he gave promoting his new autobiography with the NY Post, he almost died a few years ago at age 49:

Publicly acknowledging at the time that he suffered from a gastrointestinal perforation, the actor had actually spent weeks fighting for his life after his colon burst from opioid overuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.

When he was first admitted to the hospital, “the doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live,” he recalls. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”

A burst colon? Jesus. Didn’t even know that was a thing. Despite his many years of addiction, Perry never missed an episode of Friends. He says he barely remembers anything from season 3 – 6 because he was so messed up all the time. Perry was initially cast at age 24, around the time his alcohol addiction began to manifest. 10 years later – things had gotten real bad:

“I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble.

But there were years that I was sober during that time. Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, ‘That should tell me something.’”

At one point he was down to 128 pounds and taking nearly 55 Vicodin a day (you should never consume more than 8 in one day). Can’t imagine battling those kinds of addiction issues while also appearing on the biggest TV show on the planet every week, though it obviously got even worse in latter years post-Friends.

I’m not really big on autobiographies but I’d actually be interested to check this one out. You would’ve thought someone as likeable as Matthew Perry would have had more success after Friends, but I can’t remember anything decent he was in besides The Whole Nine Yards. Anyway, he’s still only 53 so plenty of time left. Or, he could just sit at home and collect a $20 million cheque every year like the rest of the Friends cast does. Not a bad option to have!