In Matthew Perry’s new memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, the author and actor spends most of the 250 pages discussing the Big Terrible Thing. For the very first time, he chronicles his addiction in great detail; Perry’s struggles with alcohol and painkillers have been known to the public for decades, but the book lays bare just how close to the edge he came — and how often.
Most of those disclosures have circulated in headlines in the days and weeks leading up to the memoir’s Oct. 28 publication, including that during the height of his addiction (and during many of the Friends years) he was taking 55 Vicodin pills a day; that he was in a coma several years ago and has had dozens of surgeries to repair his exploded colon; and that his Friends co-stars, most especially Jennifer Aniston, continued to reach out to him and offer help after the show’s finale (Lisa Kudrow pens the foreword for the book).
But Perry also dedicates time in the book to reflecting on his high-profile acting career. It isn’t a Hollywood tell-all in the traditional sense (most of the telling is used up with his stories about continually coming back from the brink), but offers very specific trivia that even the most die-hard of Friends fan wouldn’t know. Here are a few key revelations from Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
While the Netflix climate-apocalypse satire was in development, Perry took a meeting with one Adam McKay, which resulted in the offer of a role. He was to play a Republican journalist, in a small role that called for several scenes opposite Meryl Streep (who played a comically narcissistic U.S. president). Perry was supposed to be heading to another rehab stint — this time in Switzerland, much farther afield than his past stays — and had recently broken eight ribs while getting CPR. He was on 1,800 milligrams of hydrocodone, but flew to Boston to film. He worked on a group scene with Jonah Hill that never made it onscreen, and had to leave the set before working with Streep because of his injuries. “It was heartbreaking,” he writes. “But I was in too much pain.”
Because of said memoir, Perry has been in the news a great deal in recent weeks. Major excerpts have made their way online as he reveals intimate details of his life, career, and struggles with addiction in Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. The actor admits he almost died due to opioid overuse and has spent over $9 million in attempts to reach sobriety. Perry also opens up about his dating life, including the stories of how he broke up with Julia Roberts, his crush on Jennifer Aniston, and his awkward set-up date with Cameron Diaz.
In new snippets of his memoir released via Variety, Perry discusses the tragic death of prominent Hollywood actors and comedians, including River Phoenix, Chris Farley and Heath Ledger. While mourning the loss of his friends, Perry also slams Keanu Reeves multiple times at different points, insinuating the actor shouldn’t be alive. Perry does not expand on why (or if) he dislikes the actor. It’s also worth noting that Reeves considered River Phoenix a close friend of his, and has spoken highly of the late actor on multiple occasions.
“River was a beautiful man, inside and out– too beautiful for this world, it turned out. It always seems to be the real talented guys who go down. Why is it that original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us? River was a better actor than me. I was funnier. But I certainly held my own in our scenes–no small feat when I look back decades later.”
“His [Farley’s] disease had progressed faster than mine had. (Plus, I had a healthy fear of the word ‘heroin,’ a fear we did not share.) I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out. Keanu Reeves walks among us. I had to promote ‘Almost Heroes’ two weeks after he died. I found myself publicly discussing his death from drugs and alcohol. I was high the whole time.”
