EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Perry's Secret Addiction Struggles Exposed in New Series

Matthew Perry may be gone, but he hasn't been forgotten, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

As the third anniversary of his tragic death approaches, a new docuseries, The One About Matthew Perry, premiered on Netflix Oct. 27, featuring never-before-seen videos from the Perry family's archive as well as interviews with the late actor's closest friends and loved ones.

The three-part series also revealed candid new details about Perry's private struggles with addiction.

"Through his many films, TV, and stage performances, and his unforgettable portrayal of Chandler Bing, he made millions of us laugh, connect, and feel a little less alone," director Mary Robertson said in a statement.

"He also gave us so much more by bravely speaking about addiction. Yet the public only knew part of his story. That's why we set out to make this series: to let the people who knew and loved Matthew reveal the person behind the public figure."

Perry had big dreams for himself. "Making people laugh – it's a world that I want to be involved in," he's heard saying in the trailer for the docuseries. "I said, 'God, you can do anything you want to me, just please make me famous.'"

In 1994, Perry's wish was granted when he was cast in Friends alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.

"I got a phone call, and I instantly knew my whole life was going to change," he recalled. "But God did not forget the other part."

In addition to drinking heavily, Perry became addicted to Vicodin following a jet ski accident in 1997.

He completed a 28-day stint at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Minnesota that same year before seeking treatment for a second time in 2001 after being hospitalized for alcohol-induced pancreatitis.

At one point during his Friends run, the star was taking 55 Vicodin a day, along with drinking – a habit that he began at age 14.

"If the police came over to my house and said, 'If you drink tonight, we're going to take you to jail,' I'd start packing," he admitted. "I couldn't stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older."

All in all, Perry went to rehab 15 times and spent a staggering $7million trying to get sober, his younger sister Mia Perry Bowick reveals.

A source said: "Whenever he went to rehab, he truly believed it was going to be that magical breakthrough he needed to get fully sober and finally stay that way.

"He threw himself into working the steps and doing everything that was suggested by doctors and addiction specialists, at least for a spell. But time and again, he would relapse, and during those dark times his whole world and circumstances would change."

In 2018, Matthew spent two weeks in a coma after his colon burst from opioid overuse.

"The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live," he said to a publication. "I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that's called a Hail Mary. No one survives that."

But Matthew did. "My therapist said, 'The next time you think about taking OxyContin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life,'" he remembered. "And a little window opened, and I crawled through, and I no longer want OxyContin anymore."

Yet in 2023, Matthew, 54, was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home from an apparent drowning.

An autopsy would reveal that he had "high levels of ketamine" in his system and that he'd died from the acute effects of the intravenous drug.

The Fools Rush In star had been receiving ketamine infusions to help with depression and anxiety but soon became addicted to the dissociative anesthetic, according to The New York Times.

When doctors refused to increase his dosage, he started buying the drug elsewhere.

The LAPD launched an investigation into Matthew's death, and several people, including his live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected him with the final fatal dose on Oct. 28, and physicians Mark Chaves and Salvador Plasencia, were sentenced to prison for their role in his demise.

Matthew once said that if he died, it would shock people, but it wouldn't surprise anybody.

He added: "And that's a very scary thing to be living with."