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Tag: Matthew Perry

  • Matthew Perry says Jennifer Aniston ‘reached out the most’ during his addiction struggles 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Just like their popular sitcom, “Friends” alum Matthew Perry says he is “grateful” to his co-stars, especially Jennifer Aniston, for ‘being there’ for him while he was struggling with addiction.

    According to entertainment outlet The Hollywood Reporter, in a preview clip for his upcoming interview with Diane Sawyer, Perry said Aniston was in close contact with him throughout the tough time, which dated back to his mid-20s and early years on the NBC show.

    “Jennifer, she says, ‘We know you’re drinking’,” Sawyer told Perry in the clip.

    Describing the moment as “scary,” he said, “She (Aniston) was the one that reached out the most. You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”

    The two-minute clip also touched upon other parts from their interview, which will be out on October 28, that show how at one point he was taking 55 Vicodin, methadone, as well as Xanax and drinking a full quarter of vodka in one day.

    “I should have been the toast of the town, but I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone,” Perry, who shot to international fame for his portrayal of the socially awkward Chandler Bing who used sarcasm to get by in life, told Sawyer.

    Previously, the 53-year-old actor had opened up to People magazine ahead of the November 1 release of his memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing” about how he thought being funny all the time would help him “get through”.

    “I thought (‘Friends’) was going to fix everything. It didn’t,” he had said.

    While Aniston had reached out to him the most, she wasn’t the only “Friends” star to support him.

    Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc were the other four lead cast members on the long-running show.

    “They were understanding, and they were patient.

    It’s like penguins. In nature, when one is sick or very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up and walk around until that penguin can walk on its own.

    And that’s kind of what the cast did for me,” he had recalled.

    Perry had also said there was a point in time when he was close to death after experiencing a gastrointestinal perforation and his colon bursting following opioid misuse.

    “The doctors told my family that I had a two per cent chance to live,” he had revealed to the magazine.

    Perry was in the hospital for weeks after his colon-related emergency.

    He was in a coma for two weeks and spent another five months in hospital care before he had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.

    LOS ANGELES: Just like their popular sitcom, “Friends” alum Matthew Perry says he is “grateful” to his co-stars, especially Jennifer Aniston, for ‘being there’ for him while he was struggling with addiction.

    According to entertainment outlet The Hollywood Reporter, in a preview clip for his upcoming interview with Diane Sawyer, Perry said Aniston was in close contact with him throughout the tough time, which dated back to his mid-20s and early years on the NBC show.

    “Jennifer, she says, ‘We know you’re drinking’,” Sawyer told Perry in the clip.

    Describing the moment as “scary,” he said, “She (Aniston) was the one that reached out the most. You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”

    The two-minute clip also touched upon other parts from their interview, which will be out on October 28, that show how at one point he was taking 55 Vicodin, methadone, as well as Xanax and drinking a full quarter of vodka in one day.

    “I should have been the toast of the town, but I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone,” Perry, who shot to international fame for his portrayal of the socially awkward Chandler Bing who used sarcasm to get by in life, told Sawyer.

    Previously, the 53-year-old actor had opened up to People magazine ahead of the November 1 release of his memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing” about how he thought being funny all the time would help him “get through”.

    “I thought (‘Friends’) was going to fix everything. It didn’t,” he had said.

    While Aniston had reached out to him the most, she wasn’t the only “Friends” star to support him.

    Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc were the other four lead cast members on the long-running show.

    “They were understanding, and they were patient.

    It’s like penguins. In nature, when one is sick or very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up and walk around until that penguin can walk on its own.

    And that’s kind of what the cast did for me,” he had recalled.

    Perry had also said there was a point in time when he was close to death after experiencing a gastrointestinal perforation and his colon bursting following opioid misuse.

    “The doctors told my family that I had a two per cent chance to live,” he had revealed to the magazine.

    Perry was in the hospital for weeks after his colon-related emergency.

    He was in a coma for two weeks and spent another five months in hospital care before he had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.

  • ‘Embarrassed’: ‘Friends’ co-creator Marta Kauffman on show’s lack of diversity

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman says it was difficult for her to accept the criticism that the show received for lack of diversity.

    The New York-set sitcom, featuring an all-white cast– Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, ran from 1994 to 2004 but rarely featured a character of colour.

    Kauffman, who in the past had said that it was “difficult and frustrating” to understand why people were so critical of the show, believes she came to realise the importance of on-screen representation following the George Floyd incident.

    “Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It’s painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago,” Kauffman, who co-created the show with David Crane, told The Los Angeles Times.

    “It was after what happened to George Floyd that I began to wrestle with my having bought into systemic racism in ways I was never aware of. That was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated. I knew then I needed to course-correct,” she added.

    In an attempt to redeem herself, Kauffman said she has pledged USD 4 million to her alma mater, Brandeis University, to fund an endowed chair in the school’s African and African American studies department, one of the oldest in the US.

    The writer-creator said in her future projects she will make sure to have a diverse team on board. “I want to make sure from now on in every production I do that I am conscious in hiring people of color and actively pursue young writers of color. I want to know I will act differently from now on. And then I will feel unburdened,” she said.

  • Matthew Perry put ‘a lot of pressure’ on himself while shooting for ‘Friends’: Courteney Cox

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Actor Courteney Cox candidly spoke about how much “pressure” her ‘Friends’ co-star Matthew Perry put himself under while playing Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom.

    In a recent interview with a media outlet, the 57-year-old star opened up about Perry after he was criticised for slurring his speech during HBO Max’s ‘Friends: The Reunion’ special last May, reported People magazine.

    It was reported at the time that Perry had undergone an emergency dental procedure shortly before filming the reunion special. “He’s just struggled for a while. I think he’s doing great now,” Cox said. In the past, Perry has been open about alcoholism and addiction. “It wasn’t my intention to have a problem with it,” Perry told People magazine in 2002 of his use of Vicodin.

    “But from the start, I liked how it made me feel and I wanted to get more,” he added. Years later, in 2016, Perry admitted that he didn’t remember filming some of the ‘Friends’ seasons. “I don’t remember three years of it. I was a little out of it at the time — somewhere between seasons three and six,” Perry told a media outlet.

    Then, during HBO Max’s ‘Friends’ reunion special last year, Perry admitted that his portrayal of Chandler Bing, and the audience’s reaction to his performance, greatly affected his mental health. “For me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh,” he said.

    When asked about Perry’s remark from the reunion, Cox said recently, “That was a lot of pressure he put on himself. That’s a lot to think how much he relied on that for his own self-worth.”

    As for Cox, the ‘Friends’ reunion “was fantastic to see everybody again, reminisce and realize how much fun we had,” she said. “Every now and then I’ll see an episode and [think] this is still relevant and still funny,” the ‘Shining Vale’ actor also shared in her recent interview, later adding, “I’m glad that [Friends] has gone through this many years and people still love it. If they stopped caring I would feel worse.”

    Perry is set to release an autobiography in November, titled ‘Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing’, reported People magazine. “So much has been written about me in the past,” he said.

    He added, “I thought it was time people heard from me. The highs were high, the lows were low. But I have lived to tell the tale, even though at times it looked like I wouldn’t. And it’s all in here. I apologize it’s not a pop up book.”

    Cox reunited with Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow for the ‘Friends: The Reunion’ special, which was hosted by James Corden and aired in May 2021.

  • Matthew Perry writing an autobiography about his ‘Friends’ stardom, battle with addiction

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON:  ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry will tell the story of his past struggles with drug abuse and more in his upcoming memoir.

    As per People magazine, the actor secured a seven-figure deal with Flatiron Books, a division of Macmillan, for the memoir.

    “There has been so much written about me by others in the past. I thought it was time people heard it directly from the horse’s mouth. In this case, the horse’s mouth being me,” Perry told People magazine.

    According to the publisher, Perry’s book will take “readers behind-the-scenes and onto the soundstage of the most successful sitcom of all time while opening up about his private struggles with addiction.”

    The memoir is described as “candid, self-aware” and “unflinchingly honest,” but also funny.

    This will be the first time a main cast member from ‘Friends’ releases a memoir, meaning there will be plenty of new stories for fans of the sitcom to hear. As the publisher put it, “This is the book that Friends fans have been waiting for.”

    Megan Lynch, the publisher of Flatiron Books, is set to edit Perry’s autobiography. She said that the company is excited to bring this book to readers during a “time of isolation and division.”

    “We need humour, we need catharsis, and we need to agree on something-and Matthew’s extraordinary story, told in his inimitable voice, is that thing. Matthew’s book has unrivalled potential to bring people together, which feels especially galvanizing right now, a time of isolation and division,” she told Deadline.

    The currently untitled memoir is slated to hit bookshelves in fall 2022.

    Perry famously played the role of Chandler Bing on ‘Friends’, which ran for 10 seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2004 and also starred Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.

    Earlier this year, the six former co-stars got back together for HBO Max’s ‘Friends’ reunion, during which they revealed a number of behind-the-scenes tidbits from their time on the show and reminisced about being a part of the hit series.

    Perry has long been open about his battle with drug abuse, which began after the actor was prescribed Vicodin for injuries sustained in a 1997 jet ski accident.

    Though Perry has struggled with alcohol and drug abuse, he maintains a positive outlook on life.

    “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my life and a lot of wonderful accolades,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015, “but the best thing about me is that if an alcoholic comes up to me and says, ‘Will you help me stop drinking?’ I will say, ‘Yes. I know how to do that.’”

    Throughout his private struggles, the star maintained his acting career, appearing in ‘Fools Rush In’ and other projects.

  • Jennifer Aniston says she didn’t understand Matthew Perry’s ‘level of anxiety’ while filming ‘Friends’

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Actors Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry have known each other for over 25 years now, but there are still some things Aniston is discovering about her former ‘Friends’ co-star.

    As per Us Weekly, Aniston recently explained that she had no idea that Perry struggled with anxiety throughout the filming process, which he revealed during the ‘Friends’ reunion special episode.

    “I didn’t understand the level of anxiety and self-torture that was put on Matthew Perry, if he didn’t get that laugh and the devastation that he felt,” the 52-year-old star said during the Thursday episode of the Today show.

    Aniston said that looking back, his admission “makes a lot of sense,” but she didn’t know it at the time.

    During ‘Friends: The Reunion’, Perry said that he used to “go into convulsions” if the studio audience didn’t laugh at his jokes as Chandler while the show taped.

    “To me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh,” he said in the HBO Max special, which debuted in May. He added while making the revelation, “And it’s not healthy, for sure.”

    His castmates replied that they didn’t know how much pressure he felt to deliver. “You didn’t tell us that then,” Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay on the show, told him.

    The ‘Go On’ alum struggled with addiction during his time on ‘Friends’, which aired from 1994 to 2004. He became addicted to Vicodin in 1997 after an injury and checked into rehab later that year. In 2000, he was hospitalised for pancreatitis resulting from his alcohol abuse, and the following year, he went back to rehab.

    “I didn’t get sober because I felt like it,” he told The New York Times in 2002. “I got sober because I was worried I was going to die the next day.”

    He returned to rehab a third time in 2011, and two years later, he turned his Malibu home into a men’s sober living facility called Perry House.

    “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my life and a lot of wonderful accolades,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013.

    He added, “The best thing about me is that if an alcoholic comes up to me and says, ‘Will you help me stop drinking?’ I will say, ‘Yes. I know how to do that.’”

    After ‘Friends: The Reunion’ premiered, director Ben Winston defended Perry from internet users who commented on his appearance in the special.

    “He was great,” the producer said during a May episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘TV Top 5’ podcast.

    He added, “People can sometimes just be unkind. I wish they weren’t. I loved working with him. He’s a brilliantly funny man and I thought he had some great one-liners in the show. I felt just happy and lucky to be in his presence and directing him on something like this.”

    ‘Friends’ originally aired for 10 seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2004. The beloved sitcom followed the story of six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City.

    The reunion special episode, which is available to stream on Zee5 in India, brought back the beloved sitcom’s six main cast members, Aniston, Perry, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer.

    The ‘Friends’ reunion special episode was all about living the aura of the famous sitcom and taking fans on an emotional joyride.

    The cast could be seen reliving the moments that they shared together on and off-screen. Some of the cast members even recreated their famous moments from the show that made them a viral hit in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

    On the work front, currently, Aniston is co-front lining Apple TV+’s ‘The Morning Show’ alongside Reese Witherspoon, who played one of Aniston’s on-screen sisters on ‘Friends’.

  • Jennifer Aniston still ‘basking in love’ from ‘Friends: The Reunion’, shares BTS pictures

    Calling it the #39;bazillionth #39; selfie, the 52-year-old star posted a picture featuring her with all the core stars- Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc in the fra

  • ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry calls it quits with fiancee Molly Hurwitz

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry has announced the decision to end his engagement with fiancee Molly Hurwitz, saying ‘sometimes things just don’t work out’.

    The 51-year-old star confirmed the news to People magazine that he and his literary manager fiancee Molly Hurwitz have decided to go their separate ways.

    “Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them, I wish Molly the best,” Perry said, in a statement.

    Perry and 29-year-old Hurwitz began dating in 2018 and got engaged in November 2020.

    “I decided to get engaged. Luckily, I happened to be dating the greatest woman on the face of the planet at this time,” Perry told People magazine at the time.

    The news comes days after the premiere of the reunion special episode of the beloved sitcom ‘Friends’. Perry played one of the most loved characters, Chandler Bing in the show.

    Matthew Perry joined Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc for ‘Friends: The Reunion’ on HBO Max. It was filmed on the sitcom’s original soundstage in Burbank, California.

    This was the first time the core six stars shared the frame together after the show’s finale 17 years back.

    ‘Friends’ originally aired for 10 seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2004. The beloved sitcom followed the story of six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City. (ANI)

  • Matthew Perry launches limited edition ‘Friends’ merchandise ahead of reunion special

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: As ‘Friends: The Reunion’ special is just around the corner, the much-loved sitcom’s star Matthew Parry has released a line of limited-edition merchandise inspired by his iconic character Chandler Bing.

    The 51-year-old actor announced the news on Thursday via an Instagram post. He shared that the collection, including T-shirts, sweatshirts, and even items for babies and pets, will only be available for three weeks.

    The price of the merchandise range from USD 14.99 for a bandana that reads, “Could I be any more of a dog?” to USD 44.99 for the “Could I be more me?” hoodie. The designs mostly feature takes on Chandler’s signature catchphrase written in the classic ‘Friends’ font.

    Per Page Six, a few pieces nod to the character’s fondness for baths, while others are printed with the definition of sarcasm, which is Chandler’s preferred method of communication.

    Meanwhile, a baby onesie reads, “I’ll talk to you about it later,” while a particularly timely T-shirt asks, “Could I be any more vaccinated?”

    IN PICS | Friends Reunion: David Beckham to Kit Harington, check out the entire list of guest stars

    The interested ones will have to place their orders soon as the line has high-profile fans like David Beckham champing at the bit. “I need one,” the footballer commented on Perry’s post.

    The announcement about the merchandise comes on the same day as a new trailer for the highly anticipated ‘Friends’ reunion released, in which Perry can be seen – in a very un-Chandler Bing move. In the trailer, Perry is getting emotional and being comforted by Jennifer Aniston.

    As reported by Page Six, the reunion, which was taped in April, is set to premiere on HBO Max on May 29. Perry, Aniston and the rest of the gang including David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, and Lisa Kudrow, are all returning.

    David Beckham, Justin Bieber, and Reese Witherspoon are slated to guest star, with James Corden set to host.

    WATCH TRAILER HERE:

  • Raya user kicked off app after calling out ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Kate Haralson, the Raya user who called out ‘Friends’ alum Matthew Perry for matching with her on the app when she was 19, has been kicked off the exclusive dating app.

    According to Page Six, speaking about this Haralson, now 20 said, “I should have expected that would happen. I feel fine about it. I never really used it anymore anyways.”

    A rep for Raya did not return our request for comment, but the app’s website details its strict guidelines to protect its members’ privacy.

    The ‘Removal of a Member’ section states, “Every member is expected to follow our simple rules of respect, trust, and privacy. There are plenty of places across the internet where an expectation of behavioral standards and respect for other users isn’t required.”

    Haralson said that Perry didn’t seem to mind their 31-year age gap, clarifying that she had the app’s age range set to meet older men “for the joke of it.”

    “It kind of felt weird talking to someone my dad’s age and it just felt not right, especially when he knew how young I was,” she said. The blond beauty also claimed in the interview that the actor asked her at one point, “Am I as old as your dad?”

    Haralson said of her decision to post their call on TikTok, “A lot of people were saying I’m a bully and mean for posting this, and it made me feel kind of bad, but at the same time, I feel like a lot of guys in Hollywood are talking to all these young girls and it’s something that I think a lot of people should be aware of.”

  • Matthew Perry posts ‘Friends’ reunion green room pic, deletes it

    By IANS
    LOS ANGELES: Actor Matthew Perry, best known as Chandler Bing in the iconic sitcom “Friends”, posted a picture from his green room of the much-hyped upcoming reunion special of the show. However, he promptly took the post down within a few minutes on Saturday.

    According to thesun.co.uk, the post had image of the actor getting his make-up done. Perry seemed to be in an unguarded pose with his mouth hanging open as the makeup artist brushed his face.

    The actor had captioned the image with trademark Chandler Bing wit. “Seconds before eating a makeup brush. Not to mention reuniting with my Friends,” he had written, according to the Sun website.

    In the one-hour special episode, Perry will join co-stars Jennifer Aniston (who plays Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), and Matt Le Blanc (Joey Tribbiani).

    The highly-anticipated unscripted episode was expected to be aired in 2020 but got delayed due to the pandemic.