Matthew Perry is opening up about his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction like never before ahead of the release of his memoir on Nov. 1. He deeply considered the timing of Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: "I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again," the 53-year-old actor who played Chandler Bing on Friends tells People in a cover story. Some highlights (and lowlights):
- He nearly died: Perry publicly claimed to be suffering from a gastrointestinal perforation in 2018, but his colon had actually burst from overuse of opioids. "The doctors told my family that I had a 2% chance to live," he says.