FRIENDS stars Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry have reunited after their TV show ended six years ago, and Hollywood gossips are asking if they have been cursed. The Daily Mail reports that the stars no longer look as young and youthful as they used to be.

Fortunately for them, after a series of delays and haggling over money, plans are nearing completion to bring Friends back for a big-screen version could not come at a better time for LeBlanc and his co-stars.

Matthew Perry, who played uptight Chandler Bing, has also seen his career flounder.

Following the final series of the sitcom in 2004, which followed the messy private lives of a group of six New Yorkers, Canadian Perry has watched his once blue-chip stock in Tinseltown slump dramatically. 
In 2006, he landed the lead role as a TV writer in the much-vaunted Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. But it was dropped by U.S. network NBC after one series because of poor ratings and mixed reviews.

Perry’s attempts at a film career have been equally disappointing. He starred as a chronically depressed film writer in the quickly forgotten movie Numb, which was mauled by critics and flopped at the box office.It was a role that required precious little dramatic invention from 40-year-old Perry.
He has admitted to suffering from depression, and has said he locked himself away for days on end in his Hollywood Hills home to escape the pressure of fame. He has also fought a long battle with addictions to drink and prescription drugs.

His problems began ten years ago when he checked into a Minnesota clinic after he became addicted to the painkiller Vicodin, following a jet-ski accident.At his lowest ebb, he was drinking two pints of vodka a day and swallowing up to 30 tablets. At the same time, he was admitted to hospital with agonising pancreatitis – an inflammation often caused by drink and drugs abuse.Then Perry had to abandon filming the box office flop Serving Sara, in which he co-starred with Elizabeth Hurley, to check into rehab again.

His latest film role, in last year’s 17 Again, saw him playing second fiddle to High School Musical heart-throb Zac Efron.Meanwhile, Perry’s attempt to make a return to TV last year, as a foulmouthed afternoon radio talk show host in a sitcom called The End Of Steve, ended in disappointment when the series was scrapped after just one pilot episode.He will next appear on screen in the U.S. this year as a down-on-his-luck sports stadium manager in yet another sitcom, Mr Sunshine.

Read more about the other “Friends” at the Source