A 12 months in the past, Matthew Perry printed his memoir.
Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing documented Perry’s rise to stardom, his decade as one sixth of the largest TV present on this planet, and his alcohol and drug addictions.
Following his demise at his Los Angeles dwelling aged 54 on Saturday, a number of of his associates and co-stars have referenced it.
Page Brewster, who performed Chandler’s love curiosity Kathy on the present, wrote in her tribute to him: “Please read his book. It was his legacy to help.”
Actor Hank Azaria, who performed Phoebe’s boyfriend David in Friends, described it as “devastating, just physically, emotionally, mentally, psychologically” – and mentioned he “had to pick it up and put it down like 11 times it was so painful for me to read”.
Here are 9 quotes from the e book, launched in 2022 by Headline Publishing Group, which reveal extra concerning the star’s life.
“I have spent upward of $7m (£5.8m) trying to get sober. I have been to 6,000 AA meetings… I’ve been to rehab fifteen times”
Reflecting on his personal fixed battle with habit, Perry wrote about how his father was in a position to surrender alcohol after only one drunken evening, when he “fell in the bushes or something”.
The star mentioned after occurring a stroll to consider it he by no means drank once more.
By distinction, Perry revealed how a lot money and time he spent making an attempt to remain sober.
“If I didn’t have alcohol to soothe my nerves and help me have fun, I would have leaped off a tall building sometime in my 20s”
In the e book, Perry asks himself if he regrets auditioning for Friends and consuming closely all through his time on the present, to which he replies no.
He spoke broadly about his nervousness over not being humorous sufficient to get laughs from the reside TV viewers.
During Friends: The Reunion he mentioned: “To me, I felt like I was gonna die if they didn’t laugh”, admitting that his mindset was “not healthy for sure” however there have been instances when failing to make folks chuckle would trigger him to “sweat and just go into convulsions”.
‘I married Monica and received pushed again to the therapy centre’
The e book reveals how Perry was residing in a therapy centre in Malibu when the episode of Chandler and Monica’s marriage ceremony was filmed within the early 2000s.
He was allowed to return to set together with his “sober technician” to shoot the two-part episode, which got here on the finish of season seven, earlier than he was pushed again.
Perry additionally wrote that Jennifer Aniston mentioned she was “mad at him” when he turned up – having beforehand smelled alcohol on him throughout filming.
But after telling her what he’d been by way of – the pair hugged, he wrote.
‘My weight diverse between 128 kilos and 225 kilos throughout the years of Friends’
Between 1994 and 2004 when Friends was on air, Perry’s weight diverse dramatically.
He recalled sporting garments that regarded “three sizes too big” for him in one of many Chandler-Monica engagement episodes.
The star defined it was as a result of he had misplaced round 50lbs (3st 8lb) in between filming the season six finale and season seven premiere – however was sporting the identical garments in each.
‘Instead of going through the inevitable agony of shedding her, I broke up with the gorgeous and sensible Julia Roberts’
Perry dated actress Julia Roberts briefly in 1995 – quickly after Friends began.
He mentioned that one of many present’s creators Marta Kauffman requested him to ask her if she would cameo within the present.
When she agreed to look as Chandler’s old-fashioned pal who he rekindles a romance with, the 2 flirted in actual life – over fax.
But claiming he might “never be enough” for her, he ended issues together with her.
He mentioned within the e book that he watched her win an Oscar for her half in Erin Brockovich whereas he was in rehab.
‘We cannot be associates!’ – to Jennifer Aniston
Perry revealed in his memoir that he tried to ask Jennifer Aniston out when he met her three years earlier than they had been solid as Chandler and Rachel.
He recalled being “immediately taken with her” however she declined his provide, saying they might be associates as an alternative.
Noting the irony of the remark, he exclaimed: “We can’t be friends!”
‘I’d simply been punched within the face by Cameron Diaz’
Perry recalled going to a cocktail party with actress Cameron Diaz in 2007.
Although it was presupposed to be a date, the star claimed she made it clear she did not like him.
Then at one level throughout a sport of Pictionary – as an alternative of making an attempt to punch him on the shoulder as a joke, she missed and hit him “smack in the side of my face”.
‘I had horrible luck with ladies and I used to be not snug in any silence in any respect’
In one part of the e book, Perry described a lunch when the Friends co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane took the solid out to get to know them higher forward of filming the pilot.
He instructed them he had a foul monitor file with courting and that he needed to break each silence with a joke.
This, he mentioned, “became a built-in excuse for Chandler Bing to be funny… and Chandler wasn’t much good with women either”.
Read extra:
Matthew Perry obituary
17 takeaways from the Friends reunion
In their tribute to him, Kauffman, Crane and director Kevin Bright recalled how comparable Perry and his character had been.
“It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words,” they wrote.
“From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.”
‘I couldn’t deal with that you simply received wealthy and well-known doing a task that I turned down’ – Craig Bierko about Perry
Actor Craig Bierko was the Friends writers’ authentic option to play Chandler Bing, however he turned the half all the way down to star in one other pilot – satirically named Friends Like Us.
Having met him on set of the failed sitcom Sydney, Perry inspired Bierko to go for Friends Like Us.
When Perry was chosen to play Chandler as an alternative and Friends turned an on the spot hit – Friends Like Us by no means made it past the pilot.
In his memoir, Perry claimed his pal refused to speak to him for years – however they made up finally.
Source: information.sky.com”