Matthew Perry shares why he never watched 'Friends'; reflects on substance abuse battle

Friends star Matthew Perry, who entertained audiences for a decade with his Chandler Bing avatar, recently revealed why he hadn't watched the popular show. The actor, who has been vocal about his addiction issues, shared that the iconic sitcom reminded him how high he was on substances while filming and that's not something he wants to watch. However, Perry clarified that he intends to watch Friends, and further called it an 'incredible' show that touched the hearts of multiple generations. 

Matthew Perry shares why he never watched Friends

Talking to CBC about his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry spoke about being 'brutally thin' on the show due to addiction issues. According to Fox News, he said, "I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 lbs, I was on ‘Friends’ getting watched by 30 million people and that’s why I can’t watch the show, ’cause I was brutally thin.”

Matthew explained that revisiting the show would bring back memories he doesn't wish to harp on. "I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine… I could tell season by season by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see," he mentioned. 

The show, which had a successful run for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004, also starred Courtney Cox as Monica Geller, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller and Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribiani. The stars returned to the set of Friends for a reunion special in 2021. 

Matthew said he definitely plans to watch the show, which became a massive hit across generations. "I think I’m gonna start to watch it, because it really has been an incredible thing to watch it touch the hearts of different generations," he concluded. 

In another interview with Diane Sawyer, Perry credited Jennifer Aniston for helping him the most with his addiction battle. He said that Aniston reached out to him the most and confronted him about his addiction issues. "She says, We know you’re drinking. Remember how scary a moment that was. She was the one that reached out the most. I’m really grateful to her for that," Matthew recalled. 

(IMAGE: AP/ TWITTER/ @FRIENDSTV)