Friends actor Matthew Perry has died in a tragic accident, just months after he bravely opened up about his 'troubled' life in a tell-all memoir.
The 54-year-old got candid with fans about his battle with drugs and alcohol addiction, which included 15 trips to rehab and $9 million spent on trying to get clean.
TMZ reports that first responders were called to his home after reports of a cardiac arrest.
The star was found dead in his jacuzzi after an apparent drowning accident, with the outlet reporting that no drugs were found at the scene.
Matthew opened up about his previous narrow escapes with death in his memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing, released in November last year.
In 2018, his loved ones were told he had just a two percent chance of survival after his colon burst due to opioid overuse. The actor was in a coma for two weeks and had a colostomy bag fitted, which he has to use for the next nine months.
Two years later, the star nearly lost his life again during a stay at a rehab facility in Switzerland, due to his opioid addiction.
Doctors had given him a sedative which interacted with the opioids in his body, causing his heart to stop beating. The Chandler Bing actor had to be resuscitated, as doctors broke eight of his ribs battling to save his life.
It meant that he had to drop out of his role alongside Meryl Streep in the film Don’t Look Up, which he described as 'heart-breaking.'
Matthew revealed that he suffered from a dependency to opiates and alcohol since gaining fame on Friends in his early 20s.
After a ski accident aged 27, he became addicted to Vicodin after being prescribed them for pain, with the star at one point consuming 55 Vicodin a day. At the height of his Friends success, Matthew was paid around $1 million per episode, but as he battled with his demons, he spent $9 million on trying to get sober.
Over his lifetime, Matthew admits he made around 6,000 trips to Alcoholics Anonymous, went to rehab 15 times, and needed 12 life-saving operations.
While promoting his book, he opened up to Diane Sawyer about his alcohol addiction, admitting that at one point he downed a litre of vodka a day. He spoke about how castmate Jennifer Aniston tried to intervene as she became increasingly concerned about him.
"At the time I should have been the toast of the town, I was in a dark room meeting nothing but drug dealers and completely alone," he told Diane.
He added that Jennifer had confronted him on the set of Friends where she told him that she and the rest of the cast "know you're drinking."
"Imagine how scary a moment that was," he said.
Matthew sweetly credited his Friends cast members for helping him during his battle to get clean, describing them as 'understanding and patient.'
He told ABC, "'It's like penguins. When one is sick, the other penguins surround it and prop it up until that penguin can walk on its own. That's kind of what the cast did for me.'"
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this story you can contact Samaritans in the UK and Ireland on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]
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