Matthew Perry’s memoir has returned to number one in US and UK book charts as fans revisit the actor’s account of his life following his tragic death aged 54.
The Friends actor’s autobiography is a bestseller once again almost exactly a year after its release, overtaking Britney Spears’ long-awaited memoir in the Amazon rankings.
Perry’s shock death in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home on Saturday prompted an outpouring of grief from across the globe, with his co-stars saying they were ‘devastated’ by his death and that they had been more like a family than castmates.
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing documents Perry’s time on the beloved sitcom, which ran for ten seasons, while also revealing harrowing details about his lengthy battle with addiction.
The Emmy-nominated actor had been candid about his experience prior to the book’s release, but opened up like never before across its 250 pages.
Matthew Perry’s shock death in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home on Saturday prompted an outpouring of grief
Matthew Perry’s memoir has shot back to number one on the Amazon book charts in the UK
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing has become a bestseller again a year after its release
Now the book has overtaken popstar Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me – her first in-depth account of her life and career which became an instant bestseller when it was released last week.
Perry’s memoir made headlines last year due to its openness and the candor with which he described his health struggles during extensive media rounds.
He revealed that he had spent $9 million trying to get sober, admitting that he had been to 6,000 AA meetings, gone to rehab 15 times, and been in detox 65 times.
As well as his revelations about the horrific effects of drug and alcohol addiction – which saw him suffer a burst colon and go into a coma – Perry made a chilling statement in the book’s prologue.
‘I should be dead,’ he wrote. ‘My mind is out to kill me, and I know it. I am constantly filled with a lurking loneliness, a yearning, clinging to the notion that something outside of me will fix me.’
A jet ski accident in 1997, on the set of his film Fools Rush In, saw him hospitalized and later become addicted to the opioid painkiller Vicodin.
He said at one point he was taking 55 Vicodin pills a day, and his weight dropped to 128 pounds.
Perry wrote in his memoir that he had spent $9 million trying to get sober
In 2000 he was taken to hospital with pancreatitis, and in 2018 his colon burst.
‘The doctors told my family that I had a 2 per cent chance to live,’ Perry told Diane Sawyer during a promotional interview for his book.
‘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.’
Perry spent nearly two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital, then used a colostomy bag for nine months.
He said he was sober for only one of the ten seasons of Friends.
He announced that he had overcome addiction in 2021 and was leading a healthier lifestyle.
He appeared in the Friends reunion show alongside castmates Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Courtney Coz and Lisa Kudrow in 2022.
Reflecting on his time on Friends in his autobiography, the star described the support he received from his castmates: ‘They were understanding, and they were patient,’ Perry said.
Perry’s Friends co-stars saying they were ‘devastated’ by his death and that they had been more like family than castmates
Perry’s autobiography has now overtaken Britney Spears ‘ long-awaited memoir in the Amazon rankings
‘It could be said that [doing the show] saved me.’
As a star of one of the biggest shows on the planet, Perry’s book was an instant hit, and becoming the biggest celebrity memoir of 2022.
He said in an interview with People that the writing process came naturally: ‘It all flew out of me.
‘It wasn’t that difficult a book to write. It’s a more difficult thing to read, because you go, ‘Wow, this is a horrible story.’ But there’s a sense of humor that runs through it.’
In a feature for GQ, Perry described reading his completed manuscript.
New Yorkers on Sunday honored Perry by leaving wreathes at the West Village restaurant he and cast-members frequented on the long-running show
‘I read it,’ he said, ‘and cried and cried and cried. I went, “Oh, my God, this person has had the worst life imaginable!’ And then I realized, ‘This is me I’m talking about”.’
Perry’s tragic death has come as a shock to many, including his Friends co-stars – with an associate of Lisa Kudrow saying it ‘does not seem real’.
‘Matthew was finally at peace with himself and was having the best year of his life since his book launch almost exactly one year ago. He was enjoying life,’ Kudrow’s friend said.
Perry tragically died at his Pacific Palisades home on Saturday aged 54.
He had not been in his hot tub for very long before his assistant discovered his lifeless body and attempted to resuscitate him, according to a new report.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ that Perry’s body was not ‘waterlogged’ when emergency services arrived at the scene, where he was pronounced dead.