Because he came so close to passing away as a result of his struggles with alcohol and opioid addiction, Matthew Perry published his memoir, titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, with the intention of assisting other people who face similar challenges. On the other hand, a few of the tales are humorous and focus on his romantic experiences. Additionally, he makes strange comments to Keanu Reeves, for which he has later expressed regret and offered an apology.
The Friends star, who is now 53 years old, admitted that he had a passionate makeout session with Valerie Bertinelli while her husband at the time, Eddie Van Halen, was passed out drunk next to them.
Yes, take a minute. That is a lot of information to process.
In the 1990 television show Sydney, Perry portrayed Bertinelli’s brother. OK, fair enough. He admitted in the book, which Page Six was able to acquire, that he “fell head over heels in love with the One Day at a Time actress, who is now 62 years old and was obviously in a problematic marriage at the time. Not only was the girl I had a crush on much out of my league, but she was also married to one of the most famous rock artists in the world. This was really discouraging to me.”
Perry has stated that Bertinelli “totally captured” him and that this fascinated him to the point that he was “crazy” with Bertinelli. He “I had intricate daydreams about her ditching Eddie and spending the rest of her life with me. I thought it would be perfect. ” He was known to spend time at the house of the couple, “watching Valerie intently while attempting to elicit a giggle from her. “One night, after consuming a large number of alcoholic beverages, Van Halen, who also struggled with alcoholism, passed out. When Perry decided to take a chance, Van Halen was “not 10 feet away from us” in the same room, and during that time, Valerie and I engaged in a lengthy and involved make-out session. He “told her I had thought about doing something for a long time, and she had said it right back to me.” (He told her that he had thought about doing this for a long time.)
It turned out to be a momentary occurrence. The next day, Bertinelli was seen on set “made no mention of what had transpired and was acting as though it was a regular day, which is how she should have been acting in the first place. I picked up on the clue very fast and also acted the part I was intended to, but on the inside, I was completely broken.” Because of the rejection, Perry experienced “many a tearful night.” The program was eventually canceled “four weeks after that tragic night,” at which point “I didn’t have to see Valerie again.” After suffering a miscarriage in a previous pregnancy, Bertinelli and Van Halen welcomed their son Wolfgang the following year. The pair had already parted ways by 2001 and finalized their divorce in 2007. She admitted in her book published in 2008 that they had both been unfaithful to one another. Since then, she has referred to the deceased musician as the love of her life and her soulmate. The guitarist passed away in the year 2020.
On Wednesday, Bertinelli appeared to reply to Perry’s allegations with a TikTok video set to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” “Anti-Hero,” wrote, “Did anyone act inappropriately while they were in their 20s and early 30s? Are you mortified?”
Between the years 1994 through 2004, when Perry was working on Friends, he first started his long and difficult battle with addiction. At one point, he was taking 55 Vicodin every day and going in and out of detox and rehabilitation centers. He thinks that being clean has cost him $9 million, and he has almost avoided loss on two separate occasions along the way. During the time he spent on Friends, he had a crush on his co-star Jennifer Aniston and dated Julia Roberts for a short period of time. After three months together, they decided to part ways because he was having problems with his sense of self-worth.
In the age after Friends, he went on a date with Cameron Diaz, which he chronicled in the book. Unfortunately, the date did not go so well. 2007 had just passed, and Diaz had lately ended her relationship with Justin Timberlake. In addition to starring in his own show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Perry was also up for a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in The Ron Clark Story.
Perry has stated that he and the now 50-year-old Charlie’s Angels star went on a group date together. According to him, Diaz “immediately stoned” herself, and while they were at a group dinner party together, it was quite evident that she “wasn’t interested in [me] at all.” During one round of Pictionary, he uttered something that Diaz deemed “witty,” and in response, Diaz attempted to punch him on the shoulder, but missed and instead struck him in the face.
Perry, who went on to have a long-term relationship with Lizzy Caplan from 2006 until 2012 and had a broken engagement last year, stated the following about his past romantic endeavors: “I have spent my life being attracted to unavailable women.” The fact that this has something to do with my connection with my mother is so obvious that you don’t need a degree in psychology to figure it out.
When he takes jabs at Keanu Reeves, with whom he has evidently had some kind of long-running feud, one of the odd parts of the book is where he does this. On the other hand, there is no additional background provided, thus it is unclear why he is so resentful of the Matrix actor. Since then, Perry has provided a further explanation.
Why do original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger have to pass away, but Keanu Reeves is still walking among us? According to the same publication, Perry said this in the book.
Both Perry and Reeves worked with Phoenix, who passed away from an overdose in 1993 outside of Johnny Depp’s Viper Room club. Perry and Reeves were both friends with Phoenix. Perry stated in an essay that he and Phoenix became close during the making of A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1986, and he referred to the late actor as “a gorgeous man inside and out and too beautiful for this world, it turned out.” Phoenix committed suicide in 1987. It appears that the extremely talented guys are the ones who are always the ones who fall.
He stated that he was in Los Angeles at the time that Phoenix passed away on a sidewalk in West Hollywood, and he claimed, “I heard the screams from my apartment; went back to bed; woke up to the news.”
Perry also referenced Keanu Reeves in a piece he wrote about the overdose loss of Chris Farley in 1998. At the time, Perry had just finished working on the film Almost Heroes with Farley.
When he heard the news on the Friends set, he revealed that he “punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out.” He was referring to the moment when he learned the news. “Keanu Reeves is here among us,” someone said.
Wednesday, Perry offered an apology to the publication People in which he stated, “I’m actually a great fan of Keanu. I just chose a random name, my error. I sorry. I shouldn’t have chosen that name and should have used mine instead.”
A lengthy conversation that took place between Perry and Diane Sawyer will be presented by ABC News as a special on Friday. In a new video, he states that he has attended 6,000 AA meetings and 15 stays at rehabilitation centers and that the reason he is doing well today, despite the fact that he came dangerously close to losing in 2018 and then again approximately two years later, is because he has people around him who are encouraging him to maintain his sobriety.
Perry, who has been clean and sober for 18 months at this point, stated that “alone, you lose” to the sickness of addiction.