Friends bombshell: Matthew Perry didn’t want to return for the final season

It’s no secret Friends star Matthew Perry went through a tough time during filming. The actor shot to fame very quickly and with that, unfortunately, came addiction.

Biography gives a timeline of Perry’s struggles, starting with alcoholism and after a jet ski accident in 1997, an addiction to pain pills. The celeb thought all he wanted was to become famous, but quickly realized it wasn’t filling the void he believed it would.

Perry has been very open about his addiction issues throughout the years, revealing what a difficult time he had during Friends despite his co-stars not knowing the extent of his problems. The actor even admitted he doesn’t remember years of his time on the show.

Given everything we know about his experience, it’s still surprising to hear Perry considered leaving Friends. In a new interview with actor Danny Bonaduce (The Patridge Family, That ’70s Show), it was revealed that Perry did not want to return for the final season of the NBC sitcom.

During an appearance on the podcast Behind the Velvet Rope, as reported by OK! Magazine, Bonaduce shared:

"“The last season of Friends, he said ‘I just can’t do it. I’m not going to do it.'” But he had already done it. This was a tale in retrospect, he had already done it.”"

According to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Bonaduce also revealed that Perry had been there for him during his own addiction struggles, serving as his driver after he went to rehab. The two met when they were going through similar situations and formed a bond.

Fans certainly didn’t realize how much Perry was going through by the final season of

Friends

. Jennifer Aniston revealed the cast didn’t either,

admitting in an interview last year

that she didn’t understand what he was going through.

Bonaduce’s bombshell comes ahead of

Matthew Perry’s tell-all book release

, in which he’ll open up about his substance abuse issues, his relationships throughout the years, and of course,

Friends

.

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing hits bookshelves this fall, on Nov. 1, 2022. You can pre-order it right here.