Matthew Perry reveals how Friends saved him from worsening addiction: 'You can't have the 17th drink'

Matthew Perry kept a tight circle of friends on the set of Friends, but he also credits experience of filming the show itself from saving him from falling deeper into addiction.

"I wanted fame more than anybody in the world. Steam would come out of my ears, I wanted it so badly. I got it, and six months later I go, 'Oh, this is not fixing what I thought it would fix,'" Perry said on Wednesday's episode of The View, where he discussed his battle with substance abuse that he outlines in detail in his new memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. "It did help me with drugs and alcohol, that job, because I said to myself on this amazing show, 'You can't have the 17th drink when you have to be at work the next morning with these wonderful people doing the job.' I had a deal with myself that I'd never drink or take anything while working, and I held up to that deal, but I was insanely hungover doing the work."

ABC Matthew Perry reveals how 'Friends' saved him from worsening addiction on 'The View'

During his promotional tour for the book — which also includes a foreword written by Perry's Friends costar Lisa Kudrow — the actor has opened up about his colleagues confronting him about his addiction, which was triggered by pills he took to recover from a jet ski accident on the set of Fools Rush In.

The problem escalated to a level that saw him taking up to 55 Vicodin pills per day, he said, atop other issues with drinking. He remembered his Friends collaborators ushering in a turning point, though, when they gathered in his dressing room to tell him that they could smell alcohol on him.

"I thought I was hiding it so well," he said in a recent interview with Diane Sawyer, adding that Jennifer Aniston "reached out the most" to help him through the ordeal. "But I wasn't in a position to stop."

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on ABC. Perry's book is out now.

Check out our daily must-see picks — plus news, celeb interviews, trivia, and more — on EW's What to Watch podcast.

Related content:

• Matthew Perry tells Andy Cohen he's done with dating apps 'forever': 'I could not be more single'

• Matthew Perry used to party with Bruce Willis and now prays for him every night

• Matthew Perry reveals he almost died after his colon burst from drug overuse: 'I didn't know how to stop'