EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Perry's Secret Battle to Get Sober Revealed
Matthew Perry's secret battle to get sober has been revealed, shedding light on his private struggles.
Oct. 16 2026, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
Late Friends star Matthew Perry spent a staggering $7million to get sober – and still couldn't beat his inner demons, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The beloved actor went to rehab 15 times and attended 6,000 AA meetings as he battled addictions to booze, prescription meds and later ketamine.
Matthew Perry Revealed Fame Couldn't Fill His Emptiness
Mia Perry Bowick reflected on her brother Matthew Perry's internal struggles with feelings of emptiness and loneliness.
Perry lost his struggle at age 54 in October 2023 – and his dark side is being revealed in an upcoming documentary set to air on Netflix.
"I said, 'God, you can do anything you want to me, just please make me famous,'" he said in a trailer for The One With Matthew Perry.
"I got a phone call [for his Friends role as Chandler Bing] and I instantly knew my whole life was gonna change. But God did not forget the other part."
During a previous interview, he recalled being "extremely happy when I got famous. Then it was like, 'Uh-oh. This didn't fix what's inside me. This didn't do what I thought it was gonna do.'"
In another clip from the trailer, his sister, psychotherapist Mia Perry Bowick, says: "My brother would talk about that feeling of emptiness or loneliness that he couldn't quite fill.
"He spent $7million trying to get sober. That's how seriously he took his disease."
Matthew Perry's Devastating Battle With Addiction
Netflix scheduled 'The One With Matthew Perry' to explore the late actor's private battles.
Perry began drinking beer and cheap wine at 14 – and his addiction issues escalated from there.
After joining Friends, he became addicted to the painkiller Vicodin after a jet ski accident. By the end of the sitcom's third season, he was swallowing around 55 pills a day.
Perry nearly died at age 49 when his colon burst from opioid overuse. He spent two weeks in a coma, five months in a hospital and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.
Matthew Perry's Tragic Final Days Revealed
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Officials at the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office ruled the star's death an accident caused by ketamine effects.
Doctors told his family he had a 2 percent chance to live, but even that brush with death couldn't keep him sober.
He was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28, 2023.
His death was ruled an accident due to "acute effects of ketamine," along with drowning, coronary artery disease and other factors, according to the L.A. County Medical Examiner's office.
