Matthew Perryis clearing the air.
In one section, Perry, 53, is talking about his friendship with thelate actor River Phoenixand writes, “River was a beautiful man, inside and out — too beautiful for this world, it turned out. It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down. Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix andHeath Ledgerdie, butKeanu Reevesstill walks among us?”
But theFriendsactornow says he misspoke.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Perry says: “I’m actually a big fan of Keanu. I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead.”
Matthew Perry Keanu Reeves.Matthew Eisman/Getty; Neilson Barnard/Getty
Reeves is cited again in the upcoming book when Perry writes about the death of comedianChris Farley. “His disease had progressed faster than mine had. (Plus, I had a healthy fear of the word ‘heroin,’ a fear we did not share),” Perry writes. “I punched a hole throughJennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out.Keanu Reeves walks among us.”
The statement made in Perry’s book caused quite a stir on social media, with several celebrities tweeting in support of Reeves.
Lynda Carterwrote, “Come on… Keanu Reeves is like one of those frozen cakes. Nobody doesn’t like him!”
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West Side Story actress Rachel Zeglershared her support of Reeves, writing, “personally thrilled that keanu reeves walks among us”
Speaking in PEOPLE’s cover story last week, Perry explained his decision pen his memoir, available Nov. 1, now
“I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again,” he told PEOPLE. “I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people.”
Perry opens up in his memoir about his addiction issues.
RELATED VIDEO: Matthew Perry Opens Up About His Addiction Journey with a New Memoir: ‘I’m Grateful to Be Alive’
At one terrifying point during hisFriendsreign, Perry was taking 55 Vicodin a day and was down to 128 pounds. “I didn’t know how to stop,” he said. “If the police came over to my house and said, ‘If you drink tonight, we’re going to take you to jail,’ I’d start packing. I couldn’t stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.”
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While he prefers not to disclose how long he’s currently been sober, he does still count each day. “It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education,” he says. “Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes. You know everything you knew before, as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
source: people.com
