Could he BE any happier? Friends favorite Matthew Perry relishes in success of his memoir after overcoming addiction as he joins stars at GQ Men Of The Year party

Matthew Perry had plenty to smile about when he attended GQ’s Annual Men Of The Year Party in West Hollywood on Thursday.

Just days earlier, the Friend star got word that his revealing new memoir – Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing – which documented his rise to fame and fortune, as well as his alcohol and drug addiction and eventual journey to sobriety, shot to the top of The New York Times’  bestseller list.

The actor, best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends, was all smiles as he made his way to the red carpet for a round of photos ahead of the GQ event.

Promo mode: Matthew Perry, 53, continued his promotional push for his new memoir when he attended GQ’s annual Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood on Thursday

The Massachusetts native, 53, who grew up in Ottawa, Canada, looked stylish in a classic black suit that he matched with a charcoal-colored top.

He also donned black dress shoes, and had his salt-and-pepper hair styled short and pushed back off his face.

The evening was yet another event to help promote his gripping new memoir that turned out to be an open and honest confessional about his previous substance use, his relationships and the support he received that eventually helped him get sober. 

Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing was previously released on November 1.

Stylish: The Massachusetts native, 53, who grew up in Ottawa, Canada, looked stylish in a classic black suit that he matched with a charcoal-colored top and matching dress shoes

Promotional trail: The evening was yet another event to help promote his gripping new memoir that turned out to be an open and honest confessional about his previous substance use, his relationships and the support he received that eventually helped him get sober

During the promotional push, Perry told GQ that he believes most of his Friends co-star won’t be reading the book.

‘Why would they read it? I don’t know,’ Perry shared, adding, ‘Because, you know, who cares? Addicts are going to care about this, and fans of Friends are going to care about this. But the cast is not going to really care about this.’

His documented drug and alcohol use wasn’t some well held secret from the cast. At a certain point they all knew what was going on with Perry. 

‘Jennifer Aniston took me aside once and said “We know you’re drinking,”” Perry said. ‘And I said, “How do you know?” And she said “We can smell it.”‘

He wet on the reveal how his substance usage could be gauged by his ever-changing looks during the course of Friends.

‘My weight varied between 128 pounds and 225 pounds during the years of Friends,’ Perry wrote. ‘You can track the trajectory of my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season — when I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills.’

In the know: His documented drug and alcohol use wasn’t some well held secret from the cast of Friends; the cast are pictured in a scene from episode two in 1995

Perry admitted his usage reached a point where he was taking 55 Vicodin a day, resulting in his weight dipping to that low point of 128 pounds.

‘I could handle it, kind of, but by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble,’ he said.

Looking back, Perry has been to rehab 15 times and undergone 14 surgeries related to his addiction. In fact, he once went to the hospital when his colon burst.

In the end though, Perry confessed that Friends may have actually ‘saved’ his life. 

‘(My castmates) were understanding, and they were patient. It could be said that (doing the show) saved me,’ he shared during an interview with People in advance of the book’s release. 

Perry went on to reveal that he wrote his memoir in an effort to inspire others who are dealing with addiction to seek help. 

Look of addiction: ‘My weight varied between 128 pounds and 225 pounds during the years of Friends,’ Perry wrote. ‘You can track the trajectory of my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season — when I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills’

‘I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again…the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people,’ he said.

‘I think they’ll be surprised at how bad it got at certain times and how close to dying I came,’ he said. 

With sobriety now part of his everyday life, Perry expressed his gratitude: ‘I’m grateful to be alive, that’s for sure. And that gives me the possibility to do anything.’

After learning the memoir had hit number one on The New York Times’ best-seller list, Perry took to Instagram and posted a screenshot of that list, along with a heartfelt thanks.

‘Wow- a dream come true! Thank you all so much for making #FriendsLoversBook #1 on the New York Times bestseller list,’ she wrote in the caption. ‘Feeling grateful and humbled for all of the love you have given my memoir and am happy to hear my words resonated with you.’

Tops! Perry celebrated the success of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, by sharing a post to his Instagram page on Wednesday

GQ MEN OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2022: THE HONOUREES

MARISA ABELA

SHEILA ATIM 

KIT CONNOR 

EMMA D’ARCY

ES DEVLIN 

LEON EDWARDS 

MO FARAH 

ANDREW GARFIELD 

STEPHEN GRAHAM 

JACK HARLOW 

MYHA’LA HERROLD

SHARON HORGAN

MICHAEL IMPERIOLI

DAVID JONSSON

LEE JUNG-JAE

ZOE KRAVITZ 

HARRY LAWTEY 

JOE LOCKE

LOUIS THEROUX

JOSEPH QUINN

STORMZY

SYDNEY SWEENEY

MAX VERSTAPPEN

ASHLEY WALTERS

BEN WHISHAW

LEAH WILLIAMSON

 

 

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