- Matthew Perry punched a hole in Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room when he learned of Chris Farley’s death.
- The actor shares the anecdote in his upcoming memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
- Perry and Farley starred in “Almost Heroes,” which was released after Farley died of an overdose in 1997.
Chris Farley’s Deathstroke Matthew Perry tough, as the actor revealed he drilled a hole in the wall of Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room on the set of ‘Friends’ when he heard the news.
Perry, 53, shared the anecdote in his upcoming memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” which will be released November 1. In an excerpt from the book, published by The Sunday Timesthe actor explained how his addiction to opiates and alcohol took hold of him early in his career. His battle with addiction coincided with that of Farley, who died at age 33 of a drug overdose, Rolling Stone reported.
In 1997, Perry, known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing in “Friends,” co-starred in “Almost heroes” with Farley. At the time, Perry said he was taking up to 55 pills a day of Vicodin, the brand name of a pain reliever that combines the opiate hydrocodone with the over-the-counter pain reliever acetaminophen. Healthline reported.
“Then Chris Farley died,” Perry wrote. “Her illness had progressed faster than mine. (Plus, I had a healthy fear of the word ‘heroin’, a fear we didn’t share.)”
His reaction to Farley’s death was visceral. “I drilled a hole in the wall of Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room when I found out,” he wrote. Aniston, 53, starred alongside Perry on “Friends” throughout 10 seasons of the hit NBC show.
Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry attend the NBC Fall 1995 Premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Ron Davis/Getty Images
Not only that, Perry wrote that two weeks after Farley’s death he had to promote their movie, which he said the couple had “barely” finished due to their addictions.
“I found myself publicly discussing his death from drugs and alcohol,” Perry wrote. “I was stoned the whole time.”
“Nobody knew – not my family, my friends, nobody,” he added.
Eventually, her castmates and the “Friends” crew figured it out. At one point, Aniston approached him and said she knew he was drinking because they could smell it on him. “Being confronted by Jennifer Aniston was devastating,” Perry wrote.
But during a session interview with Diane Sawyer for ABC News Friday when discussing his memoir, he said he was “grateful” for Aniston talk looking back.
“She was the one who reached out the most,” Perry said of Aniston, whom he referred to in the interview as “Jenny.” “I’m really grateful to him for that,” he added.
