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Matthew Perry Can’t Recall Three Years He Spent On ‘Friends’

By Coburn Palmer
Published on: 05:53 PST, Jan 25, 2016

The iconic 90s TV show, Friends, raked in comedy awards and helped a generation of twenty-somethings laugh at themselves, but Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing, can’t remember three years he spent on set.

Perry, 46, told Britain’s BBC Radio 2 he had such a problem with alcohol and substance abuse at the time that he can’t remember several years he spent filming the cultural phenomenon that was Friends.

During an interview with radio host Chris Evans, Perry was asked to name his least favorite episode of the show.

“Oh my goodness. I think the answer is I don’t remember three years of it. So none of those… somewhere between season 3 and 6. A little bit of the time, I was a little out of it, yeah.”

Although Perry says he was never high while filming Friends, he did visit rehab twice during the show in 1997 and again in 2001 for problems with alcohol and Vicodin, the TV star told People in 2013.

“I had a big problem with alcohol and pills and I couldn’t stop. Eventually things got so bad that I couldn’t hide it, and then everybody knew.”

He went on to open his own sober-living facility, Perry House, in Malibu to help people who suffer from drug and alcohol abuse, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“When I was in big trouble, it was so public because I was on a TV show that 30 million people were watching. The fact that I [am] on TV makes people listen a little bit more, so I take advantage of that from time to time.”

Matthew has received many awards from his time on Friends, but he told the Hollywood Reporter that he now focuses on giving back to the community and that helping addicts recover is the thing he’s most proud of.

“The best thing about me is that if an alcoholic comes up to me and says, ‘Will you help me stop drinking?’ I will say, ‘Yes. I know how to do that.’ “

Matthew Perry was 24-years-old when he landed the starring role of Chandler Bing and eventually went on to earn $1 million per episode for the iconic show that set the stage for a host of sitcoms to follow.

Matthew is now busy promoting his new West End play, The End of Longing, which he wrote and stars in, dealing with being 40 while searching for the meaning of life.

Perry also opened up to BBC’s Evans on the possibility of a Friends reunion, saying he thought the other stars would be open to it.

NBC will be airing a Friends reunion February 21 to honor director James Burrows, but it won’t be the update on the show that fans were hoping for. Perry won’t there, for starters, because of a scheduling conflict with his Longing play and while the ensemble cast will be on the show together, they may not be in the same room with each other. Matthew may pre-record a segment for the tribute.

The Burrows tribute will also include the cast of Cheers, without Kelsey Grammer, and Taxi. Kaley Cuoco went Instagram this weekend to post an amazing photo of the Big Bang stars sitting with Friends actors during a gala dinner for Burrows.

[Photo by Brian Ach/Invision/AP]

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