Matthew Perry may have been grateful Jennifer Aniston had the guts to address his addiction struggles back during their Friends days, but it also brought on an incredibly devastating realization for him.
In the late star’s memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which was published last fall, the actor reflected on a pivotal conversation he shared with his co-star, in which she confronted him about his drinking problem. He recalled the actress “in a kind of weird but loving way” saying:
“I know you’re drinking.”
But this discovery wasn’t the worst part.
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He continued:
“To be confronted by Jennifer Aniston was devastating. And I was confused. ‘How can you tell?’ I said. I never worked drunk. ‘I’ve been trying to hide it.’ ‘We can smell it,’ she said, in a kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.”
Oof. Of course, Jen would’ve been referencing their fellow cast members Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc. It must’ve been so tough for him to realize he wasn’t hiding his issues as well as he thought. As for his response? The Fools Rush In star recalled replying:
“‘I know I’m drinking too much,’ I said, ‘but I don’t exactly know what to do about it.'”
Whoa. It would take him several years and about $9 million until he finally got the help he needed to beat his addiction struggles. Until his final breaths on October 28, when he drowned in his hot tub, he was committed to helping others get clean, too.
In a candid interview with Diane Sawyer while promoting his book last year, the actor also recalled this memorable convo while sharing how “grateful” he was for Jennifer, noting:
“Yeah, imagine how scary a moment that was. She was the one that reached out the most. You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”
These days, Jennifer is said to be “struggling” the most, a source told Page Six on Monday:
“It’s a second massive loss in less than a year, with the one-year anniversary of her dad’s death just around the corner. She still hasn’t fully regained her footing from that, and now this has just completely knocked her off her feet.”
We can only imagine the pain of this death knowing how close she was with Matthew. The Friends cast cared for each other so much on and off-screen, and this book excerpt is just one clear example of that. Very powerful…
[Image via WSJ. Magazine/Q with Tom Power/Rotten Tomatoes TV/YouTube]
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