Matthew Perry used to go to open houses to steal pills

Matthew Perry has opened up about the extreme lengths he went to in order to get his hands on pills.

Ahead of the release of his memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, the Friends star has been speaking out about his struggles with addiction.

From admitting he was once given a two percent chance to live, to being confronted by sitcom co-star Jennifer Aniston, the 53-year-old actor has shared intimate details of his drug and alcohol problem.

Perry has since revealed the extreme lengths he would go to in order to find pills to feed his addiction.

Sitting down with Diane Sawyer for ABC News' Good Morning America, Perry stated: "Secrets kill you. Secrets kill people like me."

At the height of his addiction, he ended up taking 55 pills a day.

He explained: "Well I had to wake up and realise I needed to get 55 of them or I was going to be really sick. So I did all sorts of things."

As well as 'fak[ing] migraines' to a 'bunch of doctors,' the actor revealed the 'weirdest thing' he did: "On Sunday's I'd go to open houses and go to the bathrooms ad see what pills they had in there and steal them. I think they thought, there's no way in Chandler came in and stole from us."

His book is also dedicated to others who struggle with addiction issues. "It was important for me to do something that would help people," he says.

After 6,000 AA meetings, therapy for 30 years, at least 15 stints in rehab, half of his life in treatment or in sober living houses, around 65 detoxes and 14 surgeries, Perry resolves: "Your disease is just outside doing one-arm pushups. It's waiting for you - waiting to get you alone, because alone, you lose to the disease.

"And now I finally feel okay and feel like I've got some strength. It means I've developed some safety nets around this.

"For some reason it's obviously because I was on Friends, more people will listen to me. So I've got to take advantage of that, I've got to help as many people as I can."

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing is currently set for release on 1 November, 2022.

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

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Topics: Friends, Drugs, Mental Health, Health, Film and TV, Celebrity

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.