The 53-year-old "Friends" actor claimed that despite beginning to drink daily at the age of 18, he did not consider himself to have a drinking problem.
On Monday (31.10.22), he remarked on Good Morning America that he didn't realise he was addicted to alcohol until he read the material from Alcoholics Anonymous: "A lot of people have alcoholism and don't know that they do.
"They are pondering their excessive drinking. I had no idea. I had to keep it a secret as I had no idea what was happening.
"Some passages in the Alcoholics Anonymous big book made me aware.
"I thought I was the only one going through this until I read a piece that claimed that while drinkers believe they are trying to flee, in reality, they are merely attempting to recover from a sickness they are unaware they are suffering from. Oh, there are 30 million people who think like me, I thought.
“
I can help if you've experienced anything similar to what I have. When they get it, a certain glow appears in their eyes.
In an interview to promote his memoirs, Matthew previously told Diane Sawyer that his drinking began when he was 14 and that he consumed a whole bottle of wine. By the time he was 18, though, he was drinking every day.
I lay in the grass and was in heaven, he claimed. This must be how normal people feel all the time, I reasoned to myself.
Matthew estimates that he spent $9 million attempting to get sober, has undergone many surgeries to treat his burst colon, and has attended treatment 15 times.
He estimates that over the course of his ten-year stint as Chandler Bing on Friends, he detoxed 54 times and attended 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous sessions.
The sitcom aired from 1994 until 2004. He has said he adhered to a guideline to never drink or use drugs on set, but he has acknowledged he would show up hungover.
"I set a rule that I would never consume alcohol or take drugs at work," Matthew added.
So I would never do it, but I would arrive drunk and inebriated. like trembling. I adored the show and Chandler. Remember this, because this will be the best period of your life, I thought.
"And I knew that if I messed this up, I would never forgive myself."
