Matthew Perry: the tragedy of extreme addiction is that the body may never recover
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
The comic star appeared to have achieved sobriety-induced optimism – but drink and drug abuse takes its toll on the body, even in recovery.
By Charlotte Lytton
It was the ‘addiction memoir’ that laid things bare. Last year, when Matthew Perry released Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, it detailed his 27-year grapple with drink and drugs in unstinting detail: how he ended up on life support with a ‘two% chance to live’ after opioid abuse burst his colon, requiring five months of recovery in hospital and nine using a colostomy bag.
That, on another occasion, mixing those opioids with a sedative stopped his heart beating ‘for a full five minutes’; there too were the 14 operations he had on his stomach, the period of erectile dysfunction, and the day where, after biting into a slice of toast, all of his top teeth fell out (Perry carried them to his dentist in his jeans pocket).
By 49, more than half of his life – and $9 million – had been spent in treatment facilities. That Bi...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
