Friends star Matthew Perry says he was on the brink of death after his colon burst from drug abuse.

The 53-year-old actor, who played the funny and sarcastic Chandler Bing on the popular US sitcom, has opened up about the role – as well as the substance and alcohol problems that have dogged his career – in a new autobiography.

In an interview with People magazine, Perry said he waited until now to share the extreme depths of his addiction because he wanted to make sure he is “safe from going into the dark side of everything again”.

He opens his book, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing, with the revelation he almost died a few years ago aged 49, the US outlet said.

After his colon burst from opioid abuse, he spent two weeks in a coma and five months in hospital and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.

He said: “The doctors told my family that I had a 2% chance to live.

Read more: yahoo