Matthew Perry reveals shocking reason he dropped a role in Don’t Look Up

Matthew Perry reveals he pulled out of a major movie role after a terrifying health scare that left him in rehab.

Friends star Matthew Perry has revealed a terrifying health scare that cost him a role in the movie Don’t look Up, as revelations about the actor’s private life continue to emerge.

According to an excerpt from his memoir, published by Rolling Stone, Perry’s heart stopped for five minutes while he was undergoing surgery.

The incident happened during a procedure to place a “weird medical device” in his back following false complaints of stomach pain he told his doctors to receive a hydrocodone prescription.

The Friends cast reunited for a special earlier this year. Picture: Instagram

His heart stopped during the surgery due to a combination of the opioid he took the night before and the anaesthesia.

“I didn’t flatline — but nothing had been beating,” he recalled.

“I was told that some beefy Swiss guy really didn’t want the guy from ‘Friends’ dying on his table and did CPR on me for the full five minutes, beating and pounding my chest,” Perry said.

“If I hadn’t been on Friends, would he have stopped at three minutes?”

Perry said the eight ribs broken during the ordeal were too painful for him to return to the Don’t Look Up cast, instead he attended a rehab centre in Switzerland.

News of the 53-year-old’s health scare comes as the actor revealed in a new interview just how serious his drug addiction issues were, admitting that he “nearly died” a few years ago.

Matthew Perry's memoir will be released in November. Picture: Supplied

The actor told People magazine that in 2018 at the age of 49, his colon burst from opioid overuse.

At the time, Perry said publicly that he suffered a “gastrointestinal perforation” but he now admits the health crisis came about due to his severe drug use.

The star has now revealed that he spent two weeks in a coma, five months in the hospital and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months until he recovered.

“The doctors told my family that I had a two per cent chance to live,” Perry told People.

“I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”

Matthew Perry with David Schwimmer during the Friends reunion special. Picture: Terence Patrick

Perry will open up about just how much his drug and alcohol addictions consumed his life, in his new memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” which is due to be released on November 1.

“I’m pretty healthy now,” he told the magazine, before joking, “I’ve got to not go to the gym much more, because I don’t want to only be able to play superheroes. But no, I’m a pretty healthy guy right now.”

According to the New York Post, Perry did not reveal how long he’s been sober for since last relapsing but said he still counts each day.

“It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education,” he said. “Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes.”

He continued, “You know everything you knew before, as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”

Perry also said the 14 scars on his stomach — as well as the idea of wearing a colostomy bag for the rest of his life — serve as a reminder to never take painkillers again.

“All I have to do is look down,” he said.

– with the New York Post

Originally published as Matthew Perry reveals shocking reason he dropped a role in Don’t Look Up