The Big Terrible Things is Matthew Perry's addiction. And it's not just one thing. It's an addiction to drugs, alcohol, nicotine -- almost anything you can become addicted to. Because Perry was also addicted to fame and wealth-- or at least he thought he was. He wanted so much to be rich and famous that he was willing to do almost anything to get there, even running away from home at a young age. But, to be sure, Perry didn't have much of a home life growing up as he tried to find his way in a "blended" dysfunctional family where his biological mother did PR for then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, his biological father was a journeyman actor/singer and his step father was a well known TV anchorman.
The whole thing was a mess and it never got much better despite Perry's stratospheric fame and monetary success as a star of the TV series Friends. In fact, all that seemed to make it worse.
This is an excruciating tale in which Perry keeps manifesting a desire to self-destruct mentally, emotionally, socially, physically -- you name it! In fact, by my count he almost died at least a couple of times.
There are whole chunks of his life that Perry does not remember and, yes, he's been in and out of rehab again and again and has tried more treatments for his addictions that you can imagine.
The book is not very well edited. It meanders like an endless monologue and it can be difficult to follow at times. But it's all him, it's all there and it's baldly direct with maybe more than you ever wanted to know about how much harm one person can do to himself despite incredibly loyal and understanding friends; compassionate, generous lovers and all the trappings of dreamed for wealth and notoriety amidst sun-kissed aura of Hollywood.
Is there a happy ending to this story? That's still up to Perry, we suppose.
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