Friends star Matthew Perry reveals he nearly died

For the past few years, Friends fans have continually voiced their concerns over Matthew Perry's health.

Just last year the star - who played the beloved character Chandler Bing for all 10 seasons of the show - alarmed fans with slurred speech and a "thousand-yard stare" during an interview with People to promote Friends: The Reunion.

And now the 53-year-old actor has made an incredibly sad admission in his upcoming memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.

Perry has revealed his addiction to substances became so severe that he "nearly died" a few years ago when his colon burst from opioid overuse.

Speaking about his health scare, Perry admitted he spent two weeks in a coma during a five-month stay in hospital and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months. 

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Perry said his family was warned he only had a two per cent chance of living.

"There were five people put on an ECMO (life support) machine that night and the other four died and I survived," he revealed.

When first cast on Friends at the age of 24, his alcohol addiction was just starting to surface, but by the time he was 34, he said he "was really entrenched in a lot of trouble."

He has been to rehab 15 times over the years and says he is "pretty healthy now."

Friends aired for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC.