Matthew Perry's Death Skyrockets Sales Of His Intimate Memoir
By Kelly Coffey-Behrens on February 21, 2024 at 5:45 PM EST
Months after 'Friends' star Matthew Perry passed away, sales of his 2022 memoir 'Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing' have skyrocketed.
As we reported, Perry died last year from “acute effects of the drug Ketamine,” a drug that he was using as part of therapy to combat depression.
The autopsy, however, also noted that the Ketamine found in Perry’s system could not have been from his Ketamine therapy, as the drug’s half-life is just a few hours and his last known treatment was over one week before he passed.
Before his unexpected death, the actor released a memoir where he opened up about his struggles with addiction and his high-profile relationships throughout the years. Now, sales of the book have doubled.
Matthew Perry's Memoir Sales Skyrocket After His Death
During the height of his career on 'Friends,' Matthew Perry admitted that he was battling with alcohol and Opioid addiction, specifically Vicodin, which he was prescribed after he got into a jet skiing accident in 1997.
That was just the beginning of his addiction struggles, as he revealed that at one point in his life, he was so addicted to Vicodin that he would take up to 55 pills a day -- at a time when he only weighed 128 pounds.
The ‘Friends’ actor also had an alcohol addiction, which he says began before he started abusing drugs. He opened up about all this, and more, in his 2022 memoir, which has been flying off the shelves since he passed away.
'Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing' sales have doubled and has now sold more than 2.5 million copies to date.
"I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again," the actor told PEOPLE when he released his book. "I was pretty certain that it would help people."
Matthew Perry Opens Up About Drug Addiction In His 2022 Memoir
While he claimed to have been sober at the time of his book release, other sources close to the actor say otherwise.
“He lied to everyone about being clean. He never was. It is very sad. You know, the biggest lie he told was probably to himself,” the source said after Perry passed away. "He could be quite a manipulative person when it came to his struggles with using, but it was such a struggle, such a battle, and he battled every day to the end."
Matthew Perry's death was ruled an accident, with "contributing factors include drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder)."
Perry’s “history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema, diabetes; drug use in past — reportedly clean for 19 months; heavy tobacco user for many years but currently not smoking; on ketamine infusion therapy with most recent therapy reportedly one and a half weeks before death," the autopsy report stated.
In an attempt to overcome his drug and alcohol addiction, he reportedly had to undergo over 10 life-saving surgeries, 15 trips to rehab, attended over 6,000 alcohol anonymous meetings, and was in detox 65 times.
Perry's memoir, 'Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,' is out now.