Matthew Perry Puts Problems in the Past

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/09/2002 at 01:50 AM EDT

Matthew Perry, in New York to promote his new movie, "Serving Sarah," a sort of road comedy with Elizabeth Hurley as a wealthy Texas wife who doesn't want her husband to divorce her (Perry plays the process server), touched upon the serious, reports PEOPLE. Of his well-documented substance abuse problems in the past and time spent in rehab, the "Friends" star, 32, said, "I learned about some of the rewards and benefits that come from facing your fears on a daily basis, which is what I had to do and continue to do. You can't help but grow up and change. When you're in a situation like I was, where change is absolutely necessary for survival, you have the ultimate surrender and say, 'Look, I have a big house and a nice car and all these great things, but the Matthew Perry plan of life just ain't working.' So you go and you listen to somebody else. In kind of letting go of your ideas of what should be, or what a man should be, and just letting it happen at the very least, you become a very confident, less self-centered, more valuable member of society." On a more lighthearted note -- who's the better kisser, Hurley or Courteney Cox Arquette? Perry revealed (with a chuckle), "I think Courteney would beat me up if I didn't say her, so I'm gonna say Courteney. But I've kissed Courteney for much longer, but they're both nice."