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Matthew Perry Turns Former Malibu Home Into Sober House
Matthew Perry (Photo by Helga Esteb/Shutterstock)
Matthew Perry is celebrating his sobriety by helping other addicts: He's turned his former Malibu home into a sober living facility.
Perry told People that after battling addictions to alcohol and Vicodin for years, he finally got sober. "Something clicked," he told the magazine. "You have to want the help."
The beach house in Malibu where he used to live is now the Perry House, a men's sober living facility. He's also become an advocate for drug courts, where non-violent substance abusers receive treatment instead of going to jail.
The actor says that helping others has helped him find "true happiness... The interesting reason that I can be so helpful to people now is that I screwed up so often," he says. "It's nice for people to see that somebody who once struggled in their life is not struggling any more."
Perry's troubles began after a 1997 jet-ski accident in which a doctor gave him prescription pills for pain. "Here, take this," the actor recalled a physician telling him at the time, NY Daily News quotes. "I did and I felt better than I ever felt in my entire life. I had a big problem with pills and alcohol, and I couldn't stop."
The actor entered rehab twice during his 10-year stint on Friends. "From an outsider's perspective, it would seem like I had it all," Perry says of the show that skyrocketed him to fame and a $1 million-per-episode paycheck. "It was actually a very lonely time for me because I was suffering from alcoholism."
He eventually got a sober coach who accompanied him to the set of Friends.
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Perry worked with interventionist and addiction specialist Earl Hightower to convert his former residence into Perry House, which offers meditation programs and a 12-step workshop, according to USA Today.
"When I die, I'd like Friends to be listed behind helping people," Perry told People.
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