Friends star Matthew Perry explains why he almost missed reunion show

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Friends star Matthew Perry has said that he almost missed the reunion show after he was forced to go through emergency dental surgery.

Perry was speaking to Diane Sawyer for ABC News as part of his promotion for his new book Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. The book details Perry's struggles with addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs over the years.

Perry told Sawyer that he has had numeral surgeries over the years, with one of the most recent coming last year, just a couple of days before he filmed the Friends reunion show with his former co-stars.

"A couple days before that, I had emergency dental surgery, which did all sorts of things," Perry said.

"The dental surgery just made my mouth feel like fire and it sounded like my voice was off. And I couldn’t not show up. So what I chose to do was go and just do the best that I could."

Perry struggled with addiction during the making of Friends, which ran for 10 seasons. He told Sawyer that at one point, he felt like he needed 55 Vicodin pills a day or he "was going to be really sick". He said that he never consumed anything while on set shooting Friends, however, but that he would turn up hungover.

"I made a rule that I would never drink or take anything at work. So I would never do that. But I would show up blindly hungover, like shaking. Crazy hungover," Perry said.

"I loved Chandler. I loved the show. And I also knew… remember this, because it’s going to be the best time of your life. And I knew it."

In the book, Perry also said that he once spent two weeks in a coma during the height of his addictions, while he also drew criticism for his comments about actor Keanu Reeves. In his interview with Sawyers, Perry has said that he finally has "some strength" after years of suffering alone and has vowed to use his position to help other people struggling with addiction.

"Your disease is just outside doing one-arm push-ups just waiting for you. Waiting for you to be alone. Because alone, you lose to the disease. And I now finally feel ok and feel like I’ve finally got some strength," Perry said.

"I’ve developed some safety nets around this. For some reason, it’s obviously because I was on Friends, more people will listen to me. So I’ve got to take advantage of that, I’ve got to help as many people as I can."