Matthew Perry Reveals His Colon Burst From OxyContin Overdose & He Almost Died!!

Matthew Perry is opening up about his health and struggle with addiction.

Ahead of the release of his upcoming memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, the sitcom icon sat down with People for their Wednesday issue to open up about a scary crisis that almost cost him his life. He prefaced it by explaining his reason for penning the new book:

“I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again. I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down.”

The 53-year-old then shared his truth — one that he initially disguised to the public four years ago as a “gastrointestinal perforation,” but is now ready to come clean about: he nearly died as the result of his colon bursting from an OxyContin overdose. He explained that at the time, he was rushed to the hospital and when he was admitted, “the doctors told my family that I had a two percent chance to live,” adding:

“I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”

Now THAT is some scary stuff! We couldn’t imagine being his family, hearing that all odds were against him. However, he fought and fought, and after TWO whole weeks in a coma, he came back into consciousness, but was still far from recovered. Matthew recalled spending five months in the hospital and another nine months using a colostomy bag. He shared:

“There were five people put on an ECMO machine that night and the other four died and I survived. So the big question is why? Why was I the one? There has to be some kind of reason.”

Now, he’s channeled all that into his memoir, noting the “main” reason for writing it being “I was pretty certain that it would help people.”

As we’ve heard in the post, the star’s addiction all began around the time he was cast in Friends at age 24, and from there, he just “couldn’t stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.” However, after 15 rounds of rehab and a near-death experience, he noted, “I’m pretty healthy now.” Playfully, he confessed:

“I’ve got to not go to the gym much more, because I don’t want to only be able to play superheroes. But no, I’m a pretty healthy guy right now.”

Matthew didn’t give specifics as to how long he’s currently been sober, but explained he counts each day, noting:

“It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education. Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes. You know everything you knew before, as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”

He also admitted the scars left behind on his stomach from 14 life-saving surgeries serve as “reminders to stay sober,” noting, “all I have to do is look down.” He continued:

“My therapist said, ‘the next time you think about taking Oxycontin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life,’ and a little window opened and I crawled through it and I no longer want Oxycontin anymore.”