Berry opened her memoir by revealing that she nearly died a few years ago at the age of 49. The actor publicly admitted at the time that he had a perforated GI tract, having spent weeks fighting for his life after his colon burst from overuse of opioids. He spent two weeks in a coma, five months in the hospital and had to wear a colostomy bag for nine months.
When she was first hospitalized, “doctors told my family she had a 2 percent chance of living,” she recalls. “They put me on something called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing to your heart and lungs. This is called Ave Maria. Nobody survives that.”
When Perry debuted on Friends at the age of 24, her alcohol addiction was just starting to show. “I could have dealt with it, more or less. But when I was 34, I was really in a lot of trouble.”, he admitted. “But there were years I was sober during that time. Season 9 was the year I was sober the whole time. And guess which season I was nominated for Best Actor? I thought, ‘This should tell me something.'” “
In a terrifying moment during his glory moment with friendsPerry was taking 55 Vicodin a day and his weight dropped to less than 60kg. “I didn’t know how to stop”, He said. “If the police came to my house and said, ‘If you drink tonight, we’ll take you to jail,’ I’ll start packing. I couldn’t stop because the disease and addiction were getting worse. Then it got worse and worse over time.”
Although Berry has tried to hide her condition, the dramatic changes in her appearance every year reflect her sober condition. He adds that his co-workers were “understanding and patient”. “It’s like penguins. Penguins, in the wild, when you’re sick or when you’re really hurt, other penguins surround you and hold you. They hang around so the penguins can walk on their own. The cast did that for me.”
While he prefers not to reveal how long he’s currently sober, he still counts every day. “It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education,” he says. “Your sobriety history changes, but that’s all it changes. You know everything you knew before, as long as you can fight the way back without dying, you’ll learn a lot.”
He also has scars: he has had 14 surgeries on his stomach so far. “That’s a lot of reminders to stay alert”, He says. “All I have to do is look down.”
“Travel junkie. Coffee lover. Incurable social media evangelist. Zombie maven.”