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Matthew Perry confronted by Jennifer Aniston about alcohol abuse: ‘It was devastating’

The actor went on to say that it was a very “scary” moment for him, and it was Aniston who offered her support during those difficult times.


Daniel Neira - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
OCTOBER 25, 2022 2:17 PM EDT

Matthew Perry is looking back at a very emotional moment he shared with his ‘Friends’ co-star Jennifer Aniston, after the actress decided to confront him for his alcohol abuse, describing the situation as “devastating.”

The actor is sharing personal details of his life in his memoir ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,’ which is set to be released on November 1. One of the many situations Perry shares with the readers, involves his drug and alcohol addiction, revealing that at one point Aniston caught him drunk while filming a scene of the sitcom.

“I know you’re drinking,” Aniston said to him at the time. The actor also talks about the crush he had on the actress back then. “I had long since gotten over her — ever since she started dating Brad Pitt, I was fine — and had worked out exactly how long to look at her without it being awkward, but still, to be confronted by Jennifer Aniston was devastating.”

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“And I was confused,” he added, “I’ve been trying to hide it.” To which Aniston responded, “‘We can smell it,’ she said, in a kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer. ‘I know I’m drinking too much,’ I said, ‘but I don’t exactly know what to do about it.’“

The actor went on to say that it was a very “scary” moment for him, and it was Aniston who offered her support during those difficult times. “She was the one that reached out the most,” Perry said. “You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”

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He also talked about his relationship with the rest of the cast, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc. “It’s like penguins. Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up,” Perry said to People, “They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That’s kind of what the cast did for me.“