‘An alcoholic from the age of 14’: Matthew Perry’s troubled life and foreshadowed death

He called himself a just-add-water addict, hooked on painkillers after a jetski accident. In last year’s shockingly frank memoir, detailing ferocious substance abuse and on-set drinking, he seemed resigned to a young deathMatthew Perry, actor best known for Friends, dies at 54Matthew Perry was a Friend to all, known the world over as Chandler Bing, always seconds away from a great wisecrack and a show-stopping grin. But he was also an addict. That was the “big, terrible thing” Perry referenced in the title of his memoir last year, giving it equal weighting with the TV series that made him an indelible celebrity, long after he had largely retreated from screens.I read Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing last year and found it a jarring, often uncomfortable experience. It was one part juicy celebrity memoir, enlivened by the flashes of humour and winning self-deprecation that Perry (by his own admission) shared with his defining character; and one part harrowing account of a man