When Michele Maize were given sober virtually 3 years in the past next looking to leave medication and alcohol off and on for 12 years, Matthew Perry was once the pal the mom-of-two didn’t know she wanted. 

Orange County, Calif.-based Maize, 45, was once a minute over a era into cure when she picked up the overdue actor’s memoir, “Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing” in November, 2022 devouring it in a past. 

She known with Perry’s skill to cover his dependancy like her personal. To the outdoor global, she was once a a hit mother volunteering at her youngsters’ faculty.

She ate wholesome and labored out, running at an Alzheimer’s sanatorium and doing yoga by way of week.

However on the peak of her dependancy, she was once quietly popping Xanax and downing vodka by way of the bottle.

“I was living a double life. People didn’t think I ever had a problem. I was hiding it behind closed doors like he [Perry] was,” Maize informed The Put up. 

“I’d drink in secret. He was taking a massive amount of pills and doing those episodes of ‘Friends,’ he fell down so many times just like I did.” 

Perry’s honesty about his dependancy ahead of his surprising loss of life at occasion 54 on Oct. 28 from an obvious drowning at his Malibu house noticed him constituent how he spent greater than $7 million on rehabilitation efforts, had time and again been hospitalized and greater than as soon as come similar to loss of life.

“He was so respected and was such an awesome guy but then was doing all these shady things behind closed doors. I’ve done that. Meeting people in random spots that isn’t safe to get stuff,” Maize informed The Put up.

“He mentioned [in the book] when using, he didn’t get high anymore, he wasn’t drunk anymore it wasn’t working — I resonated with that,” she added.

Rising up with an absent mom whom she says was once an alcoholic, Maize vowed by no means to abuse medication or alcohol.

She relished episodes of “Friends” as an resignation — favoring the episode, “The One Where Everybody Finds Out,” (Season 5, Episode 14), when Monica and Chandler’s undercover courting is visible — one at a time — to the remainder in their pal workforce.

“It’s about hiding. The seduction scene is hilarious. I love how he [Perry] used the inflection in his voice to make everything funnier,” Maize mentioned.

Later having her two daughters when she became 30, she discovered herself spiraling. Her husband gave her numerous ultimatums.

“I was a really shy introverted young girl, when I drank I didn’t have to be that girl anymore. My husband found me one day really drunk and I went to rehab. I would have it together for a while and something would happen I would go on a drinking binge. I was in and out of that, kind of like Perry’s story.”

Nevertheless it wasn’t till Jan. 6, 2021 right through a bender she reconciled along with her dependancy. 

“I just went wild the last day I drank. I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw my mom staring back at me. In that moment, I said this is it, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’” 

Month Maize by no means met Perry in individual, she was once impressed to assistance others get sober like Perry did, telling the Put up she now volunteers to assistance buddies coping with substance abuse problems.

“The best thing about me is that if an alcoholic comes up to me and says, ‘Will you help me stop drinking? I will say, ‘Yes. I know how to do that,’” Perry informed The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. He bought his Malibu house in 2015 and was once making plans to reopen the middle in any other location.   

Maize says Perry’s secure had any such profound parallels, from a formative years with divorced folks to his going to fourteen, like her personal batch makes an attempt, she wrote in an essay for Medium in April. 

“Even though I didn’t use as much as he did, I still had the big, terrible thing. I had the potential to get worse and I did. I kept falling, just like Matthew,” she wrote.

“It doesn’t matter if you are some big-time celebrity that is making a million dollars an episode, I feel connected to your inner struggles. I know that feeling of trying to fill the empty hole inside.” 

A pivotal year within the secure for Maize was once when Perry suffered a harrowing near-death enjoy in 2018 next his colon exploded from opioid importance. It introduced her to tears.

“He mentioned [about his addiction in the book] when using, he didn’t get high anymore he wasn’t drunk anymore it wasn’t working — I resonated with that,” Maize mentioned.

“Towards the end he just accepted himself for who he was and not who he wanted to be. I’ve just accepted that I’m introverted and a little awkward and that’s okay. I don’t want to go out and party anymore because I’ve been there, done that,” she mentioned.

“He said he never gave up. He kept trying. I’ve probably tried 30 different times [to stay sober] — that really resonated with me,” she mentioned.