‘Secrets kill you’: Friends star Jennifer Aniston confronted Matthew Perry about addiction

Matthew Perry struggled with alcoholism during the height of his fame. Photo / Getty Images

Matthew Perry has recently opened up about his near-death experience due to his substance abuse, and now he has admitted he was “scared” when Jennifer Aniston confronted him about his addiction.

The 53-year-old actor most well known for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC sitcom Friends has revealed he was shocked when co-star Aniston confronted him about his “secret” problems.

He said: “Secrets kill you. Secrets kill people like me. At the time I should have been the toast of the town. I was in a dark room meeting nothing but drug dealers and completely alone. Jenny said ‘We know you’re drinking.’ Imagine how scary a moment that was.”

Perry and Aniston - as well as Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox - starred alongside each other in the sitcom between 1994 and 2004.

The 17 Again actor went on to say that Aniston - who played waitress Rachel Green on the classic sitcom - was the co-star who “reached out to him the most” and is so “grateful” to have had her support.

Speaking in an upcoming clip for Matthew Perry: The Diane Sawyer Interview, he added: “She was the one that reached out the most. I’m really grateful to her for that.”

Perry - who achieved sobriety some years ago - has now opened up about his addiction struggles at the height of his career in new memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing and claimed readers will be “surprised” at just how “bad” his struggles have been and how close he came to death.

The reunited Friends cast (from bottom left): Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.

He said: “I think they’ll be surprised at how bad it got at certain times and how close to dying I came. I say in the book that if I did die, it would shock people, but it wouldn’t surprise anybody. And that’s a very scary thing to be living with. So my hope is that people will relate to it, and know that this disease attacks everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re successful or not successful, the disease doesn’t care.”

- Additional reporting by NZ Herald

Where to get help:

Alcohol and Drug Helpline NZ.