Matthew Perry spent $9,000,000 to try and treat his addiction

Matthew Perry has estimated that he's spent $9 million trying to overcome his drink and drug addictions.

The Friends star has opened up about the substance and alcohol problems that have dogged his career in his new memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing.

Speaking to The New York Times, the 53-year-old said he was 18 months sober - but he has spent a hell of a lot of money trying to get to this point.

"I've probably spent $9 million (£7.9 million) or something trying to get sober," he said.

Speaking to People, Perry revealed that his alcoholism was just taking root when he landed the role that would change his life on the astronomically popular sitcom.

Over the years on the show, his addiction escalated - and in 2018, it nearly cost him his life.

While Perry publicly said that he had been hospitalised for a gastrointestinal perforation, the truth was that his colon had burst from using opioids.

He was hospitalised for a total of five months, two weeks of which he was in a coma.

Perry then had to wear a colostomy bag for nine months.

Album/Alamy Stock Photo

He said: "The doctors told my family that I had a two percent chance to live.

"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."

Perry said five people were put on Ecmo machines that night and only he survived, making him question why he was the one.

He also added that his Friends co-stars had all been by his side during his toughest times.

Perry said: "It's like penguins. Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up. They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own."

He added: "That's kind of what the cast did for me."

If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support

If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can talk to FRANK. You can call 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or contact through their website 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or livechat from 2pm-6pm any day of the week

Topics: Celebrity, Drugs, Friends

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey