"I didn’t watch the show": When Matthew Perry dropped a bomb about FRIENDS 

Matthew Perry was interviewed by CBC in December 2022, where he revealed that he has never watched the hit NBC sitcom Friends, in which he plays the role of the ever-hilarious Chandler Bing. He said that, for the entire duration of the Friends shoot, he was battling alcohol addiction and substance abuse, which now makes it difficult for him to watch the show as it brings back unpleasant memories of his disease. In the interview, he said:

“I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30 million people — and that’s why I can’t watch the show, ’cause I was brutally thin.”

Matthew Perry also noted that he could pinpoint each substance that he was struggling with at the time of each season of Friends, which ranged anywhere from alcohol to opiates and cocaine.

“... I could go, ‘Drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine.’ I could tell season by season, by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see.”

Matthew Perry further said that the show reminded him of his time as a struggling addict and watching the show would mean reliving those painful years. He recalled a particular day on set when he was extremely hungover and had to take the support of a table to keep himself stable because his body was shaking so much. The actor also expressed that he often felt that it was unfair that only he, out of the cast of six, had to go through this difficult disease.

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Matthew Perry is grateful to his Friends co-stars for supporting him in his struggles

Talking about the cast, Matthew Perry showed gratitude towards the five Friends co-stars for helping him through his difficult years. He used a penguin analogy to define their support saying:

“Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up.”

He also spoke specifically about co-star Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel Green, saying that she was especially supportive and always reached out to him. He conveyed that he will always remain grateful to her for being a pillar to him in his struggles.

The 17 Again star wrote a memoir called Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, which was released in November 2022. As the title suggests, Matthew’s book is about his years playing Chandler Bing in Friends and his simultaneous battle with substance abuse.

In another interview with The New York Times, Matthew Perry revealed that he has spent an estimated $9 million on his sobriety journey. He also shared that he had been to rehab 15 times in addition to braving 14 surgeries for medical problems caused by his addiction. He also suffered through a two-week coma period.

Matthew further noted that drugs for him were not about the high and he was never a party person. All he liked to do was take some Vicodin and watch a movie on his couch, which would be nothing short of heaven for him but now those days are behind him.

Chandler Bing fans can keep their fingers crossed and hope for Matthew Perry to watch the show. The actor has expressed that someday he will watch Friends since it has incredibly resonated with millions of people from different generations. He also said that he felt worried about watching it but definitely wants to enjoy the NBC sitcom too and fondly remembers everyone being nice and funny.