Matthew Perry spent three months in hospital after surgery

Matthew Perry secretly stayed in hospital for three months after he had surgery to repair a gastrointestinal perforation.

The Friends star, 48, told his 1,180,000 Twitter followers he had spent the last three months in a hospital bed in a tongue-in-cheek tweet, The Daily Mail reports.

"Three months in a hospital bed. Check," he wrote on Twitter.

Gastrointestinal perforation, also known as ruptured bowel, can occur along any point in the wall of the gastrointestinal tract. This includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine.

Symptoms of a ruptured bowel include severe abdominal pain and sometimes requires emergency surgery. Possible causes can include trauma from a knife wound or eating a sharp object. It can lead to sepsis and can be fatal.

The revelation Matthew spent three months in hospital comes after a representative confirmed he was taken to an LA-based hospital for the procedure.

"He is grateful for the concern and asks for continued privacy as he heals," the statement read.

The actor is an outspoken addiction recovery advocate after struggling with addictions to alcohol and several prescription drugs during his time on Friends.

In 1997, he completed a 28-day program for Vicodin addiction and he later told Larry King that he took the painkiller "mostly just to not drink as much as I was."

In 2001, the actor entered a rehab to recover from his use of Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines, and alcohol.

Matthew found fame as one of the six Friends in the classic 90s sitcom with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.

Earlier this year, he sold his home in the Hollywood Hills for $12.5million after having bought a $20million luxury penthouse apartment in Century City last year.