Nobody told him life was gonna be this way.

No one could have foreseen the famous cultural phenomenon that Friends would become when it first hit the airwaves in 1994.

America’s sweetheart, Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), and snarky buffoon, Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), were arguably two of the best characters.

On-screen they never ventured past the “friend zone.” But off-screen, Perry was falling hard for his co-star.

The One Where Matthew Perry Wanted To Be More Than Just Friends

Matthew Perry had long harbored romantic sentiments for Jennifer Aniston. In his biography, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, he reveals that it began long before the duo appeared on the hit television show. It all started when mutual acquaintances introduced them.

“How could I not be taken by her right away?” “I liked her, and I had the impression she was intrigued as well — perhaps it was going to be something,” he wrote.

She meant so much to him that she was the first person he called when he got an acting gig. “Bad idea,” he wrote. “I could feel ice forming through the phone. Looking back, it was clear that this made her think I liked her too much or in the wrong kind of way.”

And yet, he persevered and asked her out.

She rejected him.

Three years later, the two would reconvene awkwardly on the set of Friends. Aniston was delighted to be working with an old friend, but Perry found it difficult to see her every day. His feelings for her had not faded despite their years apart. They had, in fact, become stronger.

“Fairly early in the making of Friends I realized that I was still crushing badly on Jennifer Aniston,” he went on to say. “Our greetings and farewells become awkward. Then I’d think to myself, “How long can I look at her?” Is three seconds too much time?'”

However, while he was concealing his actual love for Aniston, he was also concealing something even more terrible.

Matthew Perry Struggled With Addiction For Decades

Perry’s pediatrician prescribed highly addictive phenobarbital medications to treat his colic when he was just 30 days old. It would be a portent of the dismal route his life would take.

He turned to drugs and alcohol to soothe the agony when he was 14 years old, plagued by severe insecurity and a frantic need for approval.

However, it wasn’t until many years later that his life really began spiraling out of control. Being on Friends was a dream come true, but it came at a cost. “I felt like I was gonna die if they didn’t laugh…I felt like that every single night,” he shared during Friends: The Reunion.

At the height of his addiction, Perry was consuming 55 Vicodin a day, even stooping so low as to steal pills at open houses.

What Did Jennifer Aniston Do To Help Save Matthew Perry’s Life?

Perry thought he was hiding his pain, but there was one person who saw through it — Jenny.

In a “devastating” moment, Aniston confronted Perry about his drinking in his trailer, saying, “We know you’re drinking.”

Perry was surprised because he never drank on set and believed he was disguising it so effectively. “We can smell it.”

It was a wake-up call he would never forget. Perry stated that Aniston’s words have stayed with him to this day.

But she had no idea how much worse it would get for her friend.

Finally, one night it all came crashing down. “I was rushed to the hospital. They told my family that I had a 2% chance to live.” Perry’s heart literally stopped for 5 minutes. Yet, somehow he survived.

When Perry finally hits rock bottom, having to die to live, it’s Aniston who is there for him.

While she didn’t end up becoming the love of his life, Perry credits her love for him with playing a pivotal role in helping to save his life.

“She was the one to reach out the most, I’m really grateful to her for that,” Perry said.

Matthew Perry Has Found His Happy Ending
After spending decades battling his demons with addiction, Perry is finally free.

“It was a combination of feeling like I wasn’t enough, feeling like I was needy, feeling like I didn’t matter. I know what that is now, and I don’t suffer from it anymore,” he said.

And now, he’s doing for others what Aniston did for him. “I’ll Be There For You,” wasn’t just a theme song, it became THEIR SONG. And today, Perry is acting that out in the lives of those who are fighting their own battles.

“The best thing about me, bar none, is if somebody comes up to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me?’ I can say ‘Yes’ and follow up and do that.”

Because sometimes, the greatest gift you can give someone, is the knowledge that they are not alone.

You will always be the part of our lives. Thank you!