Matthew Perry played the role of Chandler Bing, one of the most beloved characters in one of the most beloved television series of all time, Friends. He took a special place in the hearts of fans of the series, which is why when news of his passing came out, everyone was devastated. The general feeling of sadness over this can be felt by all corners of the internet, with many not knowing what to do with all that they are feeling and experiencing.
On this melancholic occasion, let us take a look back at the actor’s past interviews, where he, once, spoke in great detail about his struggles with substance abuse, as well as the time his co-star, Jennifer Aniston, confronted him about his addiction, which left him feeling horrible about himself and gave him a wake-up call.
Matthew Perry Felt Immense Pressure
Matthew Perry’s character in Friends is quite well-known for being the ‘funny one’. While many might assume this was because of the writing and something the actor was simply really good at, this wasn’t quite the case. According to BBC, he once confessed that the entire process of filming in front of a live audience became extremely stressful and anxiety-provoking for him. The reason for this was that if they did not laugh at a joke he was saying, he would start to spiral and panic.
“If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get, I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place.”
He added that he would feel like this every night, which wasn’t very manageable and healthy for him. As a way to deal with this, feel calmer, and make better jokes, Perry started to drink vodka while filming the series, not finding it to be too big a deal. He mentioned that he thought that this would fix the things that his fame was unable to, or was, perhaps, causing.
Jennifer Anniston Confronted Matthew Perry
The entire cast of the iconic sitcom, Friends, is known for being extremely close, with the central six actors, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, and Matt LeBlanc, being almost like family to each other. Being as close as they are, it isn’t surprising to find out that they look out for each other and are there to help one another when they see one another in distress. This is what Aniston did with Perry when she started to notice this habit of his was getting out of hand.
“‘I know you’re drinking,’” Perry recalled Aniston telling him. “To be confronted by Jennifer Aniston was devastating. And I was confused. ‘How can you tell?’ I said. I never worked drunk. ‘I’ve been trying to hide it.’” he went on to add, “‘We can smell it,’ she said, in a kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer,” Perry wrote.
The actor revealed, according to BBC, that the actress once walked up to him and told him that she knew that he was drinking. This surprised Perry, who thought that he was hiding this well. He ended up asking Aniston how she knew that he was drinking as it wasn’t something he had done in the past. To this, she told him that she and the cast could smell it off him.
This was an eye-opening moment for Perry, specifically because of the fact that everyone on set, whom he was close to and thought of as family, were witnesses to this low moment in his life.
