Matthew Perry's alcohol addiction, journey in AA Groups, tough love revealed by rehab friend

Matthew Perry, 54, renowned for his role as Chandler Bing in Friends, faced a challenging journey in New York's Alcoholics Anonymous groups, according to a close companion from his rehab days. The companion revealed Perry's struggle with the confrontational 'tough love' approach prevalent in the group.

He stated, 'Mr. Perry wasn’t able to deal with the tough love which is characteristic of my AA group. I feel for him, but in my 25 years of experience, sometimes ‘helping’ someone is really enabling.' Perry's friend refrained from sharing further details to respect the privacy of the group but added that Perry seemed like a regular person battling addiction and was surrounded by well-meaning enablers.

Perry was found dead in his California home, and the cause was determined to be an accidental overdose of a lethal combination of ketamine and other drugs. Perry had previously declared 19 months of sobriety before his passing on October 28th.

In his autobiography, Perry openly discussed his battle with addiction, having attended 6,000 AA meetings, undergone 15+ rehabs, 65 detoxes, and cycled through various treatment centers and sober homes.