Matthew Perry may have been battling severe addiction during his time on “Friends,” but according to the actor, he was never drunk or high while actually filming. He explicitly promised himself he wouldn’t be.
Perry stopped by “The View” Wednesday in support of his new book, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” In the book, Perry goes into harrowing detail about his struggles with addiction, especially as they pertained to his time on the hit sitcom. In discussing things with the ladies of “The View,” the actor noted that, in reality, his job on “Friends” saved him.
Perry said that knowing he had an early call time for work, or a busy day, alongside “these wonderful people” on “this amazing show,” often stopped him from having another drink in the evening, in an attempt to somewhat moderate himself. He also revealed that he made concerted efforts to be sober while actually at work.
“I had a deal with myself that I would never drink or take anything while working, and I held up to that deal,” Perry explained. “But I was insanely hungover doing the work.”
Still, his castmates were very aware of what was going on with him. In the end, he revealed, it was Jennifer Aniston who eventually approached him on behalf of the group, and encouraged him to get the help he needed.
All the while, the Chandler Bing actor heaped praises on Aniston and the rest of the gang for their support during that time. According to Perry, “Everybody kind of knew, but nobody was talking about it. And they had my back, you know?” He even went so far as to compare his colleagues to penguins in nature.
“If a penguin is injured, the other penguins surround it, and prop it up, and walk around it until the penguin’s OK!” Perry explained. “And that’s sort of what the cast of ‘Friends’ did for me.”
