Matthew Perry’s sister, Mia Perry Bowick, says in the new Netflix documentary The One About Matthew Perry that the beloved Friends star spent $7 million over his lifetime trying to get sober. But that may be a low estimate: The actor himself once put the figure at $9 million.
Perry struggled for decades with addictions to drugs and alcohol, and died three years ago today, October 28, 2023, at the age if 54, from the acute effects of ketamine use, exacerbated by accidental drowning in his jacuzzi in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.
In the second episode of the new Netflix documentary, Bowick says her brother “spent about $7 million over his lifetime trying to get sober, and that number is… staggering.
“It just paints a picture to me of how overall seriously he took his disease and how desperate he was to be sober,” she adds.
Bowick also recounts how Perry tried to keep his drug use and drinking under control when Friends was a hit for NBC.
“Around Seasons 5, 6 and 7, we were starting to hear that he was having a very hard time managing his substance use while also filming Friends,” she says in the doc. “He didn’t want people knowing that he was on something. So he would take just enough to make him feel OK, but not enough to appear high, which was tricky, especially the further along you get. He would need to like, manage his withdrawal symptoms — tremors and stuff between takes.”
Matthew Perry’s Spending on Drugs and Trying to Get Clean
Perry himself told The New York Times in 2022 that “I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober.”
He spoke to the newspaper while promoting his memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, in which he recounted in heartbreaking detail his many attempts to break the cycle of addiction.
As the Times recounted at the time, Perry went into a “medical odyssey in 2018 that included pneumonia, an exploded colon, a brief stint on life support, two weeks in a coma, nine months with a colostomy bag, more than a dozen stomach surgeries, and the realization that, by the time he was 49, he had spent more than half of his life in treatment centers or sober living facilities.”
At one point, during the Covid pandemic, he was at a rehab center in Switzerland and faked pain to get 1,800 milligrams of Oxycontin a day, while getting daily ketamine infusions. When he left Switzerland for L.A., he was told he’d still get 1,800 milligrams at a local hospital. He paid $175,000 to fly to L.A. in a private jet, and when his doctor informed that he would not agree to such a high amount, Perry booked another $175,000 private flight back to Switzerland.
Five people pleaded guilty to playing various parts in supplying Perry with ketamine prior to his death. The longest sentence, 15 years, went to Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors called “The Ketamine Queen.” Her attorney, Mark Geragos, said when she pleaded guilty that she “feels horrible about all of this.”
“Nobody wants to be in the chain of causation for lack of a better term,” Geragos said. “She feels horrible and she’s felt horrible since day one.”
If you are experiencing severe symptoms or are in danger from drugs, please call 9-1-1, or call poison control at 1-800-222-1222. You can also visit www.poison.org.
For treatment, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit www.FindTreatment.gov to find a qualified healthcare provider in your area.
The One About Matthew Perry, a three-part docuseries, is now streaming on Netflix.
Main image: Matthew Perry at the GQ Men of the Year Party 2022 at The West Hollywood EDITION on November 17, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for GQ.
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