I’ve been wanting to read this book pretty much since it published. However having any time in my life in the last year has been quite challenging for me. Then something prompted me to start reading it, my mental health. Some might say this is ironic considering the content of the biography “Friends, Lovers And The Big Bad Terrible Thing.”

It is no secret I have been a huge fan of Friends since it first aired on my 19 inch television back in 1995. Ironically the programme first aired on my 19th birthday in the US. From the start my favourite character was of course Chandler Bing, he had me laughing at every episode. So when Matthew Perry published his biography, it was only a matter of time before I read it.

Sypnosis

The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid, funny, and revelatory memoir that delivers a powerful message of hope and persistence.

“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”

So begins the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, taking us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who traveled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more.

In an extraordinary story that only he could tell-and in the heartfelt, hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it-Matthew Perry lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams coming true. But he also details the peace he’s found in sobriety and how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware, and with his trademark humour, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle with addiction and what fueled it despite seemingly having it all.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening-as well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book fans have been waiting for. – AMAZON

Friends

Although Matthew is most famous for Friends, he has also had an acting career before and after. I only knew him for Friends and Whole Nine Yards, which to be completely honest I only watched because he was in it with Bruce Willis.

I would say about half of the biography he talks about his time on Friends, he tells how the cast members became his family and support network. He shares his admirable memories of being on the set, of how his fellow cast members looked out for each other. His honest recollection of the actors, saying how caring and compassionate Jennifer Anniston is to them all, Lisa Kudrow making them laugh and David Schwimmer being like a big brother to all of them.

Addictions

His honesty on his addictions is profound. I hadn’t realised how many addictions he’d had in his life and how early they started. You can tell that his intention for this book is to help other sufferers and not get sympathy, although I couldn’t help feel a little bit sorry for him. It’s in my nature. Addiction to drink “I’d ask the hotel reception to leave a bottle of Vodka in my bath tub” is something that I will never understand as I’ve become less and less of a drinker. He grew up watching his father drink every night made him think it was normality so he began drinking as a teenager. He also was smoking up to 60 cigarettes a day up till 2021 when he quit. These addictions were covering a void that he wasn’t aware he’d missed.

After each chapter there’s an Eiplogue that is a ‘flash back’ of his life. Moments that he remembers, and I wonder how he did with the amount of alcohol and drugs in his body. Many of these Epiloges are memories of one of the 15 times he spent in rehabilitation. After a freak skying accident being prescribed Vicodin, which was when his addiction started and then continued for almost forty years. There was only one season of Friends that he wasn’t high on drugs, and that was seaseon 9. 

Humour

This was what he was most well known for, his humour captured so many people in the world. Members of the public using his famous phrases. “Could you BE anymore knowledgeable?” In fact the humour he practised he already used in his life and he talks about his lifelong best friends from his childhood. Along with these friends they started this type of humour and this was where that particular phrase came from. So that humour that we all know and love has been around for over 40 years!

Family

Son of actor John Perry (the Old Spice guy) and Suzanne Langford (secretary to the to former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau). He grew up in Canada and his father left them when he was just a baby, but from the age of 5 he would travel alone to visit his father who lived in LA. All 5 of his siblings are from his mother and step-father Keith Morrison, whom he loves very much so.

Evaluates

He finally evaluates his life now, “sitting in a huge house, overlooking the ocean, with no one to share it with.” This shows that he can undoubtedly be a pain. The overwhelming sense is of a lonely, disappointed man in desperate need of a hug.

What a great read, it was definitely worth the wait.