Matthew Perry died on October 28, 2023. Fans around the world mourned the loss of the actor best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit NBC sitcom Friends. His family and friends were devastated by his sudden passing. He was 54 years old.
Matthew was open about his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction over the years. His 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, spends many of its pages on the heartbreaking subject. Here are some facts Matthew shared with fans before his death in order to help others and updates about his passing.
Cause of Death
Matthew was found dead in his spa by his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. His cause of death was determined to be acute effects of ketamine. Other contributing factors included drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. There were no signs of foul play at the time and it was believed to be an accident.
Later, authorities would discover a darker truth. Matthew had been receiving ketamine treatment for his anxiety and depression, but the levels in his system were too high for it just to be due to that. Matthew had found other sources of the drug and fallen back into addiction with the help of others.
5 People Arrested
In August of 2024, almost a year later, five individuals were arrested in connection with Matthew's death. It is believed that Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Dr. Mark Chavez, Erik Fleming, Kenneth Iwamasa, and Jasveen Sangha took advantage of Matthew's addiction for their own profit. Erik, Kenneth, and Jasveen have accepted plea deals while the doctors are going to trial.
US Attorney Martin Estrada is disgusted by their actions. “They knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry,” he explained. “But they did it anyways."
These individuals allegedly worked together to supply Matthew with ketamine, and his assistant injected him with it.
More from CafeMom: Matthew Perry's Stepdad Keith Morrison Speaks Out After 5 People Charged in Actor's Death
First Drink
Matthew calls himself a "ready-made, just-add-water addict" in his memoir. He shared that he had his first drink at 14 years old. He was drinking regularly by the time he turned 18.
Family Issues
In his memoir, Matthew tries to get to the bottom of why he struggled with addiction, but there are no easy answers. As a crying colicky baby, he was given phenobarbital, a highly addictive and strong barbiturate. His parents divorced when he was just 1 year old.
He lived with his mom, who worked as the press secretary for Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, until Matthew was 15 years old. Teenage Matthew moved to Los Angeles to live with his dad. He struggled as a child of divorce, never feeling a sense of home and family, according to his memoir. Matthew didn't place blame on anyone but himself. He desperately wanted to be famous and to prove his worth.
First Painkiller
Matthew traced his addiction to pain pills to a 1997 incident. On the set of the film Fools Rush In, he was in a jet-ski accident. Production didn't want to take time off for him to recover, so a doctor prescribed him Vicodin.
He recalled in his memoir that this made him feel “complete and utter euphoria.” He was hooked. “I remember thinking, ‘If this doesn’t kill me, I’m doing this again,’” he wrote. Chasing this high would lead him to taking 55 pills a day.
Rehab
Matthew battled addiction for over 30 years. He tried 15 different rehabs. His first time was in 1997 not long after he discovered Vicodin. He spent 28 days in Minnesota at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation facility.
He was back in rehab for alcohol in 2001 and again for Vicodin in 2003. The pattern of sobriety and relapse would be a recurring theme of his life. At one point in his memoir even he asked: “Why can’t I get sober?”
The Cost
These 15 rehab stays did not come cheap. Matthew estimated in his book that they cost him more than $7 million. It also cost him physically. At age 30 he developed pancreatitis from his excessive drinking. He also struggled to maintain romantic relationships and friendships.
Television vs. Reality
One of Matthew's stints in rehab took place while Friends was filming. Production picked him up to shoot the famous episode when his character Chandler marries Monica and then dropped him back off at the center.
“I married Monica and got driven back to the treatment center — at the height of my highest point in ‘Friends,’ the highest point in my career, the iconic moment on the iconic show — in a pickup truck helmed by a sober technician,” he recalled in his memoir.
Near-Death Experience in 2019
In 2019, Matthew's colon had had enough. It burst because of years of opioid overuse. He underwent a seven-hour surgery and the prognosis was bleak. His family and friends were told he had a 2% chance of surviving the night. He beat the odds. Afterward, he was in a coma for two weeks and hospitalized for five months. He used a colostomy bag for nine months.
Lost Movie Role
Although fans will always have Chandler, Matthew's career never got much momentum past his iconic character. Addiction played a big part in that. Matthew was supposed to be in the 2011 Adam McKay film Don't Look Up but had to pull out because his heart stopped beating for five minutes while at a luxury rehab in Switzerland. Matthew was taking hydrocodone and it interacted with propofol, stopping his heart before a planned surgery.
A doctor saved his life by giving him CPR for five minutes, breaking eight ribs in the process. He was in too much pain to film the movie and was devastated to drop out. According to Matthew, it would have been “biggest movie I’d gotten ever,” complete with three scenes with Meryl Streep.
