Matthew Perry Went Straight to Rehab After Filming One of the Most Poignant FRIENDS Scene That Will Leave You in Tears
Matthew Perry was most known for his portrayal of one of the six friends, Chandler Bing in the NBC sitcom FRIENDS that was aired for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004. He also starred in numerous movies such as Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, Serving Sara, The Whole Ten Yards, and 17 Again.
Matthew Perry’s artistic versatility was showcased when he voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas in 2010. His work on FRIENDS has given the viewers some of the best moments to cherish in television history, and one of them is when Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler get married in the two-part episode of season 7 of the show. However, Perry later revealed that his personal experience of that scene was far from good, let alone being cherishable.
Matthew Perry’s Experience of the Iconic Wedding Scene Was Tainted
Chandler Bing’s jokes and archetypal one-liners were one of the things that made FRIENDS the amazing sitcom it is today. His marriage with Monica was as memorable as his proposal. Millions of fans have heartfelt memories of the first time they watched Chandler and Monica say ‘I do’ to each other. However, Matthew Perry’s memories of the scene are rather painful.
The moment the cameras stopped rolling, Perry was picked up and driven back to his rehab due to his crippling addiction. In an interview with The New York Times, he said:
“I married Monica, and got driven back to the treatment center — at the height of my highest point in ‘Friends,’ the highest point in my career, the iconic moment on the iconic show — in a pickup truck helmed by a sober technician.”
Matthew Perry discussed his addiction issues at length in his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. In the memoir, he wrote how his career was at its peak when he was filming the wedding scene, but his life behind the scenes was in shambles.
Matthew Perry’s Reaction To FRIENDS‘ Ending Was Different From His Castmates
Matthew Perry‘s struggles with addiction are now publicly known, but he struggled with it in secrecy for many years. He had also said co-star Jennifer Aniston, who played the role of Rachel Green in FRIENDS, tried her best to help him through it.
The final episode of FRIENDS was putting an end to a ten-year-long journey that everyone, who had worked on the sitcom, had been a part of. Filming the final scenes could not have been an easy task for the costars, but it was not the same for Matthew Perry who was not feeling a thing.
View this post on Instagram
In his memoir, Perry reflected on his lack of emotions after filming the final scene of the sitcom (via BuzzFeed News). He wrote:
“We had made 237 episodes, including this last one, called, appropriately enough, The Last One. Jennifer Aniston was sobbing — after a while, I was amazed she had any water left in her entire body. Even Matt LeBlanc was crying. But I felt nothing.”
The Ron Clark Story actor went on to write that he did not know what had brought about this lack of reaction in him. He was not sure if it was the opioids or if he was just devoid of any emotions.
