Skip to Search Skip to Live Player Skip to Content Skip to Footer

John Mulaney ‘Identified’ with Matthew Perry’s Addiction Struggles

Author Laila Abuelhawa
John Mulaney attends 'John Mulaney in Conversation with Fred Armisen' at 92NY on May 31, 2023 in New York City. Matthew Perry arrives at the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on September 23, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.

Comedian John Mulaney may have never met the late Friends star Matthew Perry, but their lives had many parallels. Perry was very open about his struggles with addiction throughout his career, while Mulaney has also spoken publicly about his substance abuse issues. In a new interview with Variety this week, Mulaney, 41, tells the publication, “Addiction is just a disaster. Life is like a wobbly table at a restaurant and you pile all this s— on it, and it gets wobblier and wobblier and more unstable. Then drugs just kick the f—ing legs out from under the table.”

Mulaney read Perry’s 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, saying he related to the actor’s battles. “I really identified with his story. I’m thinking about him a lot,” Mulaney says of Perry, who passed away at 54 years old. Being three years sober now, Mulaney also spoke about crafting his Netflix comedy special, Baby J, which details his 2020 relapse and becoming a father to son Malcolm with actress Olivia Munn. The Big Mouth voice actor admitted to being hesitant about sharing the darker parts of his story with audiences.

RELATED: Matthew Perry 911 Dispatch Audio Mentions ‘Drowning’

“I’ve had bits my entire career where I think, ‘Oh, this is a little dark. I don’t know if people are going to go with this,'” he recalls. “For some reason, I attract an audience from 70 years old to seven, and I’m aware of how this is going to play with the great big group that I’m very lucky to have assembled. I just knew that this vein would be interesting to people.”

The comedian is currently on a 22-city comedy tour, which runs until January 26, 2024. On stand-up comedy, Mulaney says it became “enormous” and has continued to grow. He adds, “I think the respect and esteem comes from all the people that come out to see it. Netflix has elevated it too. People check out tons of specials now: ‘Oh, I saw Beth Stelling’s. I saw Nate Bargatze’s, I saw the new Ali Wong.’”

John Mulaney on Twitter: "Tickets on sale now for the newly added 2nd show in St. Louis and all other dates at https://t.co/EgO3dUwWqq. pic.twitter.com/D8c5ukWOWp / Twitter"

Tickets on sale now for the newly added 2nd show in St. Louis and all other dates at https://t.co/EgO3dUwWqq. pic.twitter.com/D8c5ukWOWp

Celebrity Sobriety Journeys

Addiction is tough for anyone to overcome. With celebrities being in the spotlight and receiving criticism on a constant basis, sobriety is even harder to manage. The entertainment industry is well-known for exposing celebrities to drugs and alcohol. Some celebrities have experienced highly publicized setbacks, like Ben Affleck and Demi Lovato. Others struggled with their substance abuse in secret, like Drew Barrymore and Jamie Lee Curtis. However, the two have successfully completed treatment programs and are currently doing much better.

The Celebrity Sobriety Journey

Sobriety is more than giving up drugs and alcohol. It is an ongoing process that requires a commitment to a substance-free life, which can be difficult at times. The most difficult step is often recognizing and admitting that you have a problem with drug or alcohol misuse. Sobriety is a lifelong journey filled with challenges and obstacles but also incredible rewards.

Per a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine, individuals with extensive substance use histories can and do recover to become productive members of society. Long-term recovery is maintained with social support and affiliation with 12-step groups. Among recovering substance users, “hitting bottom” is often cited as the turning point and the beginning of their recovery. Hitting bottom is the realization of how much has been lost to substance abuse (home, health, friends, self-respect, jobs) and life itself unless a drastic change is made.

Noelle Bush Staying At Drug Center, Celebrity Sobriety Journeys

(Photo by Chris Livingston/Getty Images)

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, reach out to SAMHSA’s National Helpline. It is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message to 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you.

Keep scrolling to find out more about these celebrity sobriety journeys:

  • Tom Holland

    Tom Holland has been sober from alcohol for over a year. He recalled, “I was definitely addicted to alcohol, [I’m] not shying away from that at all. I think that anyone that has a beer every day has probably got a little bit of a problem.” According to Tom, he would “drink and drink and drink and drink” until he reached a breaking point. “And then you would just reach that moment where you’re like, ‘Wow, I shouldn’t have had that last beer.’ And you wake up the next day, and you have a terrible headache.” Drinking so much had the English actor wondering to himself, “Why am I enslaved [to] this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?” He recalled that he could only enjoy himself at work events if he had a few beers to take the pressure off.

    With a strong sense of self-control, Tom found positive things to replace alcohol with. To feel included with the notion of “cracking something open and sharing it with friends and drinking it,” he will opt for sparkling water. More positives in Tom’s life since being sober are his better sleeping habits, problem-solving, and mental clarity.

  • Demi Lovato

    Demi Lovato has long-struggled with sobriety. Following her near-fatal heroin overdose in 2018, the “Heart Attack” singer reflected on how she used to be “California sober” (someone who uses cannabis but avoids other drugs) in the years following. Looking back, Lovato acknowledged how being “California sober” was too easy for her to fall back into her addiction struggles. “Smoking and drinking led me back to other substances,” she said. “Abstinence has been the key for me.”

  • Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom

    Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have been sober since making a pact in early 2023. “For me, it was an opportunity to reset,” Perry said. “We reset after President’s Day, and it was a great opportunity to just let my body bounce back a little bit. I’ve had a pretty good relationship with just finding balance.” Because Bloom was shooting a movie “that’s taking every ounce of his focus,” the “Last Friday Night” singer wanted to be supportive of her partner. Perry said that she’s “not really drinking” on weeknights, “but on the weekend, I’ll indulge a little bit.” She is a co-founder of the non-alcoholic, natural sparkling beverage company De Soi.

  • Noah Cyrus

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CdhJ3Nppi3t/

    In 2022, the “Dear August” singer opened up about her past addiction to Xanax, for which she has been in recovery since late 2020. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Noah revealed that she channeled the ups and downs of her personal struggles for her LP, The Hardest Part. Growing up, Noah felt the pressures of being sister to Miley Cyrus and daughter to Billy Ray Cyrus. On top of that, she battled body dysmorphia and depression over the years, recalling that she tried downers when she was 18 years old.

    Noah explained that she decided to open up about her circumstances so she can help her fans who may be going through a similar situation. She credits her process to hours of therapy. “I wake up in the mornings, and I’m able to look in a mirror and go on about my day without hating myself,” she said. “I’m able to comfort myself and nurture myself.”

  • Rumer Willis

    Rumer Willis is thankful that she is sober with her sisters, Scout and Tallulah, and their mother, Demi Moore. In 2021, she said their sobriety journey as a family “has allowed for a different level and depth of communication that I don’t know we would have had otherwise.” She noted that they all understand what the other person is going through and speak “the same language.”

  • Jamie Lee Curtis

    In October 2021, the Halloween alum revealed that she became addicted to opioids after undergoing plastic surgery during an interview with Fast Company. Her secret addiction lasted for a decade until she got sober in 1999. “I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic,” she told People in 2018. “I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one.”

    “My sobriety has been the key to freedom, the freedom to be me, to not be looking in the mirror in the reflection and trying to see somebody else,” Curtis told the publication at the time. “I look in the mirror. I see myself. I accept myself. And I move on because you know what? The world is filled with things we need to do.”

  • Drew Barrymore

    Reflecting on her time in rehab, Barrymore can’t shake the “they’re coming, they’re coming” mentality. “I’m pretty sure that this will all go away at any moment, I will get locked up again. I will lose my job.” When she was only 13 years old, Barrymore was sent to rehab. She exited the facility two months, later against medical advice. Once she was out, the actress stole her mother’s credit card and went on a cocaine binge. Eventually, private agents hired by her mother handcuffed Barrymore and returned her to the clinic. After treatment, and Drew’s emancipation, their relationship improved but would continue to remain complicated and uncomfortably competitive. In 1995, Drew posed for Playboy; her mother did the same eight months later.

    Barrymore’s struggles with substance abuse didn’t end there. She confessed it was her talk show and her kids that ultimately led her to the decision to stop drinking. The Drew Barrymore Show is now in its third season. She says it was “intimidating and terrifying and unfamiliar.”

    Barrymore doesn’t call herself sober and she doesn’t work a program like Alcoholics Anonymous. She makes this clear because she doesn’t want people to think she’s “some perfect Puritan,” and because she feels that alcohol was her specific poison. “I kept thinking, ‘I’ll master this. I’ll figure it out.’ And finally, I just realized: ‘You’ve never mastered this, and you never will.’”

  • Robert Downey Jr.

    Downey’s wife Susan told Harper’s Bazaar that he quit drugs for good in 2003 after she gave him an ultimatum. His father, the late Robert Downey Sr. also had a substance use disorder and allowed his son to try marijuana at the age of six. Drugs became an emotional bond between father and son, which apparently led to Downey becoming a daily drinker. In 1996, he was arrested for possession of heroin and cocaine and was arrested multiple times for drug offenses and cycled in and out of jail. Per a 2013 Daily Mail article, the Oppenheimer actor credits a combination of 12-step programs, yoga, meditation and therapy with keeping him sober.

  • Gisele Bündchen

    The supermodel gave up alcohol in an effort to sleep better and feel more present in her daily life after she turned 40. She told People, “I felt a huge difference between when I had the glass of wine and when I didn’t have the glass of wine. It’s socially accepted to have a glass of wine. And people even say, ‘Oh, it’s healthy for you.’ Well, it is not healthy for me. If you want to ask of your body what I ask of my body, which is a lot, I can’t be having all these things (alcohol, caffeine) because they add up.”

    She “immediately” felt a shift in her every day life once she stopped drinking. “I became more clear. I felt a bit more foggy before. Now I’m very sharp and very present and I notice things that I didn’t notice before.” She sleeps much better when she isn’t drinking and added, “You have to be loving to yourself. You ask a lot of your body, you’ve got to do a reset. You have got to take care of this only vehicle you got, right?”

  • Bradley Cooper

    Bradley Cooper attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" smiling looking right wearing a tuxedo.

    Bradley Cooper has been open about his 20-year sobriety journey. The actor even said that having coped with addiction made it “easier” for him on the set of A Star Is Born as a musician struggling with addiction. He has credited SmartLess podcast co-host Will Arnett with helping him realize he had a problem with drugs and alcohol back in 2004. “It was Will saying that to me, I’ll never forget it… It changed my entire life.” Cooper also said he was depressed and felt “lost,” adding, “And I was addicted to cocaine, that was the other thing… I severed my Achilles tendon right after I got fired-slash-quit Alias.”

  • Ben Affleck

    Ben Affleck attends the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon Studio's "The Tender Bar" looking left wearing a suit and tie.

    The Gone Girl actor had a very public battle with alcoholism and gambling addiction and has attended rehab numerous times. As we previously reported, Affleck checked into rehab for alcoholism in 2018, after he and Jennifer Garner got divorced. He previously said he felt “trapped” in his marriage to his ex-wife and that it was “part of why” he started drinking. “We had a marriage that didn’t work. This happens. It was somebody I love and respect but to whom I shouldn’t be married any longer … what I did was [I] drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.”

  • Matthew Perry

    In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry said when he was first cast on Friends as Chandler Bing at 24, his alcohol addiction was just starting to surface. “I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble,” he admitted. The actor was also abusing opioids during his time acting on Friends, taking as much as 55 Vicodin a day and weighing 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.”

    Over the years, Perry went to rehab 15 times and had 14 surgeries on his stomach. “That’s a lot of reminders to stay sober,” he said. “All I have to do is look down.” Though he hasn’t disclosed how long he’s been sober, he still counts each day. In his memoir, Perry hopes people will relate to it, as “this disease attacks everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re successful or not successful, the disease doesn’t care.”

Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.

Get The Kiss & Tell Newsletter Delivered To Your Inbox

Stay up to date on the latest from your favorite artists, Fayetteville happenings, exclusive giveaways, and more.

*
By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.
Author Laila Abuelhawa
Category:
Tags:
,,

More Celebs

Load More