In this book, he revealed that he spent two weeks in a coma, five in the hospital, and that he had to use a colostomy bag for months. During the recordings of Friends he came to take 55 vicodins a day.
Vicodin is a controlled medication, which is used to relieve moderate to severe pain. Contains hydrocodone (an opioid pain reliever) and acetaminophen (a non-opioid pain reliever). Hydrocodone works in the brain to change how your body feels and responds to pain.
During the very emotional final scene, he would gather the protagonists in Monica’s apartment. There, while the apartment is empty, the friends talk about the memories that lived within those four walls. Finally the tension is broken by Perry’s character, “Chandler”, who enunciated the last sentence.
“Rachel” (Jennifer Aniston) asks the others if they have some time for coffee—something they did regularly at Central Perk for 10 seasons—, Chandler replies, “Sure!…Where?”
“It was January 23, 2004,” Perry recalls in his book. “Keys on the shelf and a guy who looked a lot like Chandler Bing said ‘where?’” she writes.
“Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Embryonic Journey’ came on, the camera panned to the apartment door, and Ben, our first assistant director and good friend, yelled one last time, ‘Wow!’ So, tears began to flow like geysers from almost everyone’s eyes, ”he adds in his account.
“We had shot 237 episodes, including the last one, titled precisely The Last One. Jennifer Aniston was sobbing—after a while, she surprised me that she had water left in her body. Even Matt LeBlanc was crying. But I didn’t feel anything”, admits the actor.
“I don’t know if it was because of the opioid buprenorphine that he was taking or that he was just generally dead on the inside,” he added. Perry had already confessed that during the recording of the series he had problems with substance abuse, such as alcohol and medication. In addition to this, he was diagnosed with depression.
Matthew thought he was keeping it hidden, his teammates suspected what was wrong with him. As the actor recounted in October, Jennifer Aniston came to confront him: “She was the one who got the closest. I am very grateful to him for that, ”she acknowledged.