Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Matthew Perry, who died at just 54 on Saturday, was much more than a comedic actor. For many people, he was a man who valiantly battled against addiction for years. His 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” gave us insight into that part of his life and inspired many to continue on their own sobriety journey. Perry was an alcoholic by the age of 14 and went through a lot of pain because of his addiction, but by the release of his memoir, he had been sober for 18 months. To get there, he attended thousands of AA meetings and spent millions putting himself through multiple rehab centers. Perry told the New York Times he spent about $9 million trying to get sober. He tried as hard as he could.
Some will look at a man going to tons of meetings and rehabs and see someone who’s too weak to just stop using, but if you have ever known the power that addiction can have over someone, you’ll know the real story is much different. In Perry, I saw a man fighting valiantly against addiction. (It should be noted that a cause of death has not been determined). He tried as hard as he could to free himself from its grasp. “By the time he was 49, Perry had spent more than half of his life in treatment centers or sober living facilities,” according to a New York Times profile. As someone who has known the grip of addiction, I find his journey inspiring.
Perry once said this about battling addiction: “A lot of people think it’s a matter of will. That has not been my experience. I don’t find it has anything to do with strength.” He’s right —…
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