How Did Matthew Perry Die? Five People Were Charged For His Untimely Death
After his tragic passing, fans of Friends and beyond are all asking the same thing: how did Matthew Perry die? The star of the beloved sitcom was only 54, leaving many with questions about the circumstances of his death. Up ahead, we’re sharing all of the answers we know so far.
In 2022, Perry came out with a memoir titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, which detailed his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction alongside his rise to fame. In the book, he recalled a near-death experience at the age of 49, when his colon burst from overuse of opioids. The actor spent two weeks in a coma, and another five months recovering in the hospital.
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As the world continues to remember Matthew Perry, we’re delving into the details surrounding his tragic passing.
How did Matthew Perry die?
Matthew Perry died at the age of 54 from an apparent drowning, according to TMZ. The publication reported that the Friends actor was found dead in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, October 28, 2023.
On December 15, 2023, the full toxicology report was revealed, finding his cause of death was due to “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. Contributing factors in the Friends actor’s death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder).
On August 15, 2024, it was revealed that five people had been charged with causing Perry’s death, including his longtime personal assistant, Kenneth “Kenny” Iwamasa. US District Attorney Martin Estrada said in a press conference that Perry relapsed from his substance abuse issues last fall and the five people charged with his death “took advantage to profit for themselves.”
The press release revealed that Iwamasa admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including performing multiple injections on Perry on October 28, 2023—the day Perry died.
According to Variety, Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy prior to his death, reportedly for depression and anxiety. The toxicology report adds: “At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression.”
Initial reports claimed that there were no drugs found at the scene and no foul play was involved. On November 1, 2023, TMZ reported that law enforcement ran a less-in-depth test on Perry which revealed he did not have fentanyl or meth in his system. However, it will take months to conduct more in-depth tests to see if other illegal drugs were present in his blood or if he took prescription drugs at a higher dose.
After Perry’s death first made headlines, more information continued to emerge about his passing, with TMZ following up their story with details about the actor’s final hours. The outlet reported that Perry spent his morning playing pickleball and arrived home after a two-hour session on the court. When he got home, he reportedly sent his assistant out on an errand. When his assistant returned about two hours later, he found Perry unresponsive and called 911.
A rep for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the call without identifying Perry, telling Entertainment Tonight, “West L.A. officers responded to [a residence] at 4:10 p.m. for a Death Investigation of a male in his 50s.”
What was Matthew Perry’s cause of death?
On May 21, 2024, Matthew Perry’s cause of death was revealed to be from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine. “At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” the report, obtained by THR, stated.
The autopsy also listed drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine (used to treat opioid addiction) effects as contributing factors to his death. Police are looking into how he obtained the drug, as he’d been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy, which is said to help with depression, anxiety, PTSD, drug and alcohol problems, chronic pain and more. His last session had been a week and a half before he died.
According to the autopsy, “the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy since ketamine’s half-life is three to four hours or less.”
On July 24, 2024, sources told In Touch Weekly that authorities quietly launched a criminal probe that’s put Hollywood’s drug-dealing underworld on high alert. The publication reveals the LAPD is now planning a press conference to announce possible charges. “They have a list of suspects,” says the source. “It’s got a lot of people in Hollywood on edge.”
Previously, many fans of the Friends star couldn’t help but wonder if his sudden passing had anything to do with his past health struggles—including his battles with addiction to alcohol and Vicodin. Perry’s battle with drug addiction started after he had a skiing accident on the set of the film When Fools Rush In in 1997.
The doctor prescribed Vicodin for his pain, but as a highly addictive substance, Perry’s use escalated to taking up to 55 pills a day. Along with his opioid addiction, he suffered from alcoholism. In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, he explained how to tell which substance he was using based on his appearance on Friends: “When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills.”
Five years before his passing, Perry was also open about the fact that he already had his fair share of brushes with death. He revealed in his memoir that he almost died after suffering a gastrointestinal perforation when his colon burst from opioid overuse. “The doctors told my family that I had a two percent chance to live,” he told People in 2022. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”
“There were five people put on an ECMO machine that night and the other four died and I survived,” he added. “So the big question is why? Why was I the one? There has to be some kind of reason.”
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Perry had another near-death experience while staying at a rehab center in Switzerland when he had to get surgery. During his procedure, he was given a shot of propofol. After 11 hours, he woke up in a different hospital and was told that the propofol had stopped his heart for five minutes. The long CPR process broke eight of his ribs.
While Perry often didn’t disclose how long he stayed sober, the actor was always open about his relapses. He had been to rehab 15 times, attended 6,000 AA meetings, been in detox 65 times, and spent between $7 to $9 million trying to get sober.
“It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education,” he said. “Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes. You know everything you knew before, as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”
In his interview with People in 2022, Perry revealed that he wrote his memoir for anyone else struggling with addiction. “I say in the book that if I did die it would shock people, but it wouldn’t surprise anybody. And that’s what I’m doing with writing this book. That’s why I wanted to do it,” he said at the time. “I wanted to talk about the highs and the lows because people are suffering out there and maybe if they hear a story from somebody they’ve seen on TV that’s worse than theirs or just the same of theirs, they’ll be filed with hope, which is the key thing.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available. Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support.
Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’ by Matthew Perry
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