Matthew Perry speaks about near-death experience in new memoir

American actor Matthew Perry, known for playing the role of Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom ‘Friends’, has spoken up about his addiction journey.

According to Fox News, in his new memoir titled ‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’, the actor revealed the challenges he faced when he hit rock bottom.”I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again. I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people,” Perry shared, according to People magazine.

Perry began his tell-all memoir detailing how he was fighting for his life at the age of 49 when he nearly died. “The doctors told my family that I had a 2 per cent chance to live,” he remarked, reported the media outlet.Perry, 53, was first admitted to the hospital from opioid overuse. He battled gastrointestinal perforation, which caused his colon to burst. The actor spent two weeks in a coma and five months at the hospital while having to use a colostomy bag for nine months, the outlet noted.

Despite Perry being one of the biggest actors in the ’90s, the Hollywood star, then 24, struggled with substance abuse during the peak of his fame. “I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble,” he confessed, according to People magazine.

The outlet has shared that Perry turned to alcohol and drugs, as he relied on Vicodin after a jet ski accident in ’97.

During his rise to fame, Perry took 55 painkillers a day and slimmed down to 128 pounds. Perry will start his month-long tour in November in New York and end in Toronto — with two already sold-out events in New Jersey and Canada.

‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’ is set to be released on November 1, reported Fox News.