Matthew Perry explains how Jennifer Aniston ‘saved his life’

At 53, Matthew Perry decided to break the silence. The star of the series Friends will publish his autobiography, titled Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, on November 1. A book in which the actor reveals to have lived a long period of addiction to alcohol and opiates. On this occasion, the latter granted an interview to ABC News, which will be released this Friday, October 28. As reported European 1Monday, October 24, Matthew Perry took the opportunity to pay tribute to Jennifer Anistonhis on-screen co-star in Friends, who helped him overcome alcoholism.

During the filming of the famous show, the interpreter of Chandler Bing has always tried to hide his addictions. As he explains in a passage from the interview unveiled by the British site The Timeshe ended up being confronted by the actress. “I know you drink”launched Jennifer Aniston. “How can you know it ?”he replied, sure that he had never “worked drunk”before adding: “I tried to hide it…” To which she would have retorted: “We can feel it”. In the eyes of Matthew Perry, “it was said in a strange but affectionate way”. “It is above all this plural, this ‘we’, that struck me like a blow”, he says today in his memoirs. Faced with his partner, he then recognized excessive consumption of alcohol. “Being confronted with Jennifer Aniston was devastating”he says.

“I’m very grateful”

To our colleagues at ABC News, Matthew Perry insisted that Jennifer Aniston was one of the people most present at her side during this difficult time. However, he did not fail to highlight the support of the other cast members of Friends. Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc or even Courteney Cox have indeed been people “very understanding and very patient” with him, explained the actor, saying to himself “very grateful” towards them. “It’s like penguins”, he estimated. “In the wild, when one is sick or very injured, the other penguins surround him and support him and walk until that penguin can walk on his own. And that’s kind of what the cast did for me”he concluded with tenderness.