In his book, Matthew Perry wrote that his father saved his life “multiple times.” One of those times came in 2001 when Perry was facing a personal crisis as his character, Chandler Bing, had his biggest storyline played out on “Friends.” While filming for Chandler and Monica’s wedding, Perry was living in a rehab facility in Marina del Rey while seeking treatment for his drug and alcohol addiction. After three weeks in rehab, he called showrunners Marta Kauffman and David Crane to tell them he was sober. They asked him when he was coming back to “Friends” and gave him a deadline to return to what would be a “very work intensive” environment.
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But Perry’s father stepped in and blasted the producers. “I was still very sick,” Perry wrote. “My father had overheard the tenor of the conversation and called Marta and David back. ‘I will pull him off your television show,’ Dad said. ‘If you continue to act this way around him.’ I was so grateful for him for being my dad and doing the dad things, but I also didn’t want to be the problem.” Perry noted that Kaufman and Crane were only doing their job. “They had the number one hit TV show, and two of their main characters were about to get married. I couldn’t just disappear,” he wrote. The “Friends” star ultimately moved to a closer treatment center in Malibu, and two weeks later, he showed up for work and filmed the wedding episode. “I married Monica and got driven back to the treatment center,” Perry added.
