Matthew Perry Was Once Given A 2% Chance To Live After His Colon Burst Due To Opioids
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SOURCE - Matthew Perry opens his memoir with the revelation that he almost died a few years ago at age 49.
Publicly acknowledging at the time that he suffered from a gastrointestinal perforation, the actor had actually spent weeks fighting for his life after his colon burst from opioid overuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.
When he was first admitted to the hospital, "the doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live," he recalls. "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."
Matthew Perry's struggles with addiction isn't new news but I had no idea he was in such bad shape. His colon burst? I didn't know that was even a thing.
I'm not much of a fan of autobiographies normally but I'd be interested to read his book. Despite all of his addiction issues, he never missed an episode of Friends. He does say he has some major memory issues when his addiction was at it's worst (he says he can't remember much from seasons 3-6). Hopefully that won't get in the way of describing what it was like fighting addiction while on one of the biggest shows on television each week.
Out of the six Friends, I used to think Perry should have had the best career. He was always quick-witted and came off as really likable. He just never found the right project post-Friends. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a show I liked a lot and I think should have succeeded but audiences never warmed up to it and it was gone in a season. The Odd Couple did make it a couple seasons but that's the biggest success and it only aired 38 episodes. Other shows Go On and Mr. Sunshine didn't even get that far. I must imagine the drug battles must have cost him some opportunities. Instead of having the best, you can make a case that he'd had the worst post-Friends career.
Hopefully there is still time for him to turn it around and he said he wouldn't have written this book if he wasn't in a good spot physically and mentally. It doesn't sound like he's working on anything currently but he is the youngest Friend so there is still time for him to find the right project for this stage of his career. Of course if he just wants to stay home, he has been getting $20 million a year from Friends residuals.