It is never easy to recall past traumatic experiences, and the late Matthew Perry had a first-hand experience of the same when he sat down to write his very candid, honest, and tell-all memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. But the hardest part was to re-read it as he revealed in dozens of interviews just a year ago.
The FRIENDS actor has had a tragic life, from severe drug and alcohol addiction to near-death experiences. So while writing about them was easy, re-reading it was deeply tormenting and often the actor had to disassociate from himself after re-reading his own words.
Matthew Perry Found It Easier To Write His Memoir
When you have lived a life as wonderful yet as tragic as Matthew Perry‘s, naturally writing a memoir can be a therapeutic experience, for writing is a means to let go of the bad and relive the best. While there were challenging parts, especially when things went really dark, it wasn’t difficult to write but rather difficult to recall moments he had little or almost no recollection of.
In an interview with Tom Power at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, the actor sat down last year to reveal the process behind his memoir. He stated,
“Writing the book. Was pretty easy. It was like cleansing. It was like a wonderful experience. I just wrote all these terrible things. I got them down on the page and but reading it was almost impossible. It was like I disassociated a little bit and I looked at this book, which I had to read because I had to do the audio.”
It was the realization and acceptance that he had in fact lived a terrible life that Perry found hardest to accept.
Matthew Perry Couldn’t Believe His Own Life
Living and realizing the life one has led, especially one filled with harrowing yet wonderful experiences, is a different feeling altogether. The realization of one’s traumatic experience is enough to generate a trauma of its own. So when Matthew Perry revisited some of his life’s darkest moments, he couldn’t believe what he had lived through as he stated to Tom Power.
“But I looked at the book and I was just like, This guy has had like the most torturous life. I can’t believe it. And then I realized it was mean that I was talking about. It was so powerfully dark and for so long I didn’t know what was going on. I do now, and that’s why the best thing about me is I can help people if they ask me to. Yeah, I can.”
In a separate interview, he stated that he was grateful for his experiences. And that he was thankful that he could now help people by sharing his experiences (via The Hollywood Reporter).
And now as Matthew Perry has gone on for his next adventure, his beloved character Chandler Bings remains, continuing to bring love and laughter into the lives of his many fans.
FRIENDS can be streamed on Netflix.
