STANDING outside the Hollywood home of Matthew Perry, as the coroner’s van carrying his body sped past, I couldn’t help but shed a tear.
I had followed the star’s tragic decline for years, as both a fan and a reporter, and had seen into the darkest corners of his life – even meeting the doctor who would later be accused of selling him a lethal dose of ketamine after branding him a ‘moron’.
Like most of his family and friends, I believed the Friends star had been clean and sober for over a year so his death, on October 28, 2023, still came as a huge shock.
But I have also witnessed the all-too-prevalent Hollywood culture of ‘doctor shopping’, which sees greedy, immoral doctors dishing out killer drugs to rich and famous addicts for a handsome profit.
The alert from TMZ came around 5pm – ‘FRIENDS’ STAR MATTHEW PERRY DEAD AT 54 … After Apparent Drowning’.
It was reported he died in his jacuzzi . Police initially said there were no drugs found at the scene, and they did not expect foul play.
I drove along the Pacific Coast Highway up to Perry’s house , which had been cordoned off by police, although you could still see his driveway.
Journalists had already gathered to wait for updates, and I was shocked to see TikTokers rushing to the scene to live-stream, caring very little about the way these situations are handled by professional news crews. It was a circus.
Perry died on the Saturday before Halloween in Los Angeles. People were getting ready to go out and celebrate, dressed in ghoulish costumes. But the real demons were hiding out in his home in Pacific Palisades.
The actor had been open about his battle with addiction for years, but many close to him believed he was off the drink and drugs, after the release of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in November 2022.
His death is now the focus of a new documentary, Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, which airs on ITV on Monday.
I took part in the one-hour special with ITN Productions and hope it gives a more in-depth look at the story behind the headlines.
Viewers will revisit Perry’s rise to fame and his success as Chandler Bing on Friends , his long battle with addiction, and what led to his overdose.
My first thought, on hearing the tragic news, was that Perry died of a heart attack after years of abusing his body.
Hours before he died, he’d taken part in a two-hour game of pickleball at a country club, a hobby he’d said he used as a distraction while trying to kick his last bad habit: smoking.
But only a handful of people really knew Perry’s life behind closed doors. And the truth is horrifying.
Chilling behaviour
The Sun spoke to a former girlfriend, Kayti Edwards, who had guessed he’d relapsed due to his bizarre behaviour on social media leading up to his death.
She also claimed he loved to go in the hot tub when he was high. An autopsy later confirmed everyone’s worst fears – he died due to ‘acute effects of ketamine’.
He had undergone ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety a week and a half before his death.
But the ketamine in his system could not have been from that session, according to the report.
“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know exactly what happened, but I do know Matthew as a person and a friend, and I know the patterns that led up to this,” Kayti said.
At the time, she also called for any doctors involved in selling Perry the drug to be investigated.
I wasn’t there so I don’t know exactly what happened but I do know Matthew as a person and a friend and I know the patterns that led up to this
Kayti Edwards
In August 2024, it was revealed that five people had been charged in connection with his death, including two doctors. This news stunned fans around the world.
Four out of the five – Dr Mark Chavez , a drug middleman, Erik Fleming, Perry’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa , and Dr. Salvador Plasencia – have since admitted their role in the tragedy.
Jasveen Sangha, who police claim was nicknamed “The Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood” by customers, has pleaded not guilty to supplying drugs to the star.
Sources have spoken of her lavish lifestyle and social media posts from her travels in Japan and London even after Perry’s death.
She is accused of running a ‘stash house’ in North Hollywood where dozens of vials of ketamine were found during a raid after the actor’s overdose.
Doctor shopping
It’s disturbing to think so many were potentially responsible for giving ketamine to a famous addict who had bravely spoken of his recovery just months before.
But Hollywood is full of selfish enablers, and it is no secret that celebrities use their fame to doctor shop and obtain multiple prescriptions.
Some medical professionals love to buddy up to stars and brag about their connections to friends, and online.
They are sometimes more concerned with becoming famous themselves than caring about their clients’ well-being.
Corrupt doctors are nothing new in La La Land. We all know why Michael Jackson died . And I worry the culture will never change.
In this case, it was also about money.
Prosecutors said that approximately 20 vials of ketamine were distributed to the actor between September and October 2023 in exchange for $55,000 cash from Perry.
I was even more stunned when I realized Dr. Plasencia had treated me just weeks earlier at an urgent care in Malibu.
Oddly, he operated a one-man-band practice, where he served as receptionist as well as doctor and he’d given me the creeps when I met him.
When I recognised his photograph following news of the indictment, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Before the actor’s death, Plasencia and Chavez had allegedly exchanged text messages about selling Perry drugs.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia was accused of writing in one September 2023 message to Chavez.
I wonder how much this moron will pay
Dr Salvador Plasencia
Drugs had robbed Perry of happiness for years. He never married. He never had children. And I know that’s something he had dreamt of.
I first began reporting on the actor around 2019 when rumors were circulating of a Friends reunion.
I grew up in the UK where the show was on repeat on the TV channel E4. For millennials, it became our collective memory. I must have seen every episode more than 10 times.
It’s a comfort show and a lot of fans have a close connection with those characters who may have helped them through hard times.
Perry’s character, Chandler, was insanely popular. He was funny, sweet, and charming.
Many have said over the years that Perry was very similar to his character in real life.
But some also found him dark and challenging behind the scenes. He was a very lonely guy who struggled daily with his demons.
‘Three musketeers’
In 2019, I broke the news of his relationship with his ex-fiancee, literary agent Molly Hurwitz.
At that time, he also had a live-in sober companion, Morgan Moses, who he’d previously met in rehab.
They were never romantic but they were very close and I truly believe she kept him alive for the years she was with him.
He also had his former personal assistant, Briana Brancato, who had good intentions, travelled with him, and made him nutritious meals.
Sources told me he was happy, and he, Molly, and Morgan nicknamed themselves “the three musketeers.”
In his memoir, he called Morgan by a pseudonym, ‘Erin’, and described her as his “best friend” and his “rock.”
But by the time it was released in 2022, Morgan and Molly were no longer in his life on a day-to-day basis. And Briana had also started a new career as a personal trainer.
Perry claimed in his book that he was taking 1,800 milligrams of hydrocodone – a powerful pain-reducing med – when he proposed to Molly and didn’t remember when he left rehab.
This was a shock, as I’d even spoken to her father who confirmed he had asked him for her hand in marriage.
Whatever went down in private, I believe he pushed everyone away.
In a tribute post after Perry’s death, Molly admitted, “While I loved him deeper than I could comprehend, he was complicated, and he caused pain like I’d never known.”
Talent manager and assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, became one of the only people close to him on a day-to-day basis during the last year of his life.
Being a personal assistant in Hollywood is an extremely challenging, and sometimes even crazy, job.
An old friend of mine was an assistant to an A-list actress and his phone would ring night and day as he dealt with her wild demands.
There were no boundaries.
I can understand Iwamasa felt the need to please Perry, but that’s not an excuse for what he did.
Even if he was scared of being fired or being blacklisted in Hollywood for pushing back and refusing to get him drugs, nothing is worth a man’s life.
The details released so far about how Perry was able to access ketamine are sickening.
While I loved him deeper than I could comprehend, he was complicated, and he caused pain like I’d never known
Molly Hurwitz
On the day of his death, Iwamasa injected him with a dose after being taught how to do it, around 8.30 am, according to authorities.
He gave him a second dose at 12.45 pm while Perry watched a movie.
Around 40 minutes later, Perry asked him for another injection and to prepare the hot tub, allegedly telling him, “Shoot me up with a big one.”
What is even more upsetting is that Iwamasa then left him alone to run errands. When he returned, Perry was unconscious in the hot tub and had to be dragged out.
This comes after police revealed he nearly overdosed around two weeks before.
U.S. attorney Martin Estrada, who appears in the ITV documentary, previously claimed Plasencia injected Perry with ketamine at his home.
It caused him to freeze up and his blood pressure spiked, according to law enforcement.
Plasencia allegedly told Iwamasa something to the effect of, “Let’s not do that again.”
However, he is accused of leaving additional vials of ketamine for the assistant to administer.
Chavez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, while Fleming admitted to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
'Addiction was my best friend, evil friend, punisher and lover all in one,' said Matthew Perry
HEARTBREAKING new insight is given into late Friends star Matthew Perry and his battle with addiction.
New ITV documentary Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, which airs on August 18, delves into his “extremely solitary life”.
Towards the end of his life, it was this isolation which allowed those around him to “prey on him for money”.
Drug peddling Dr Salvador Plasencia and Dr Mark Chavez saw Perry as “a golden ticket to make money” according to lawyer Martin Estrada.
It’s alleged they charged him $55,000 for 20 vials of ketamine. A single dose would typically cost just $12, meaning they made a staggering 198.26 per cent in profit.
Fame and addiction were a crutch for what he described as a “great hole that’s growing endlessly inside of me” that nothing could fill.
“I’ve had all the outside world has to offer,” he says. “Julia Roberts is my girlfriend – you have to drink. I just bought my dream house, can’t enjoy that without a drink.
“I’m making a million dollars a week, I win right? Do you want to have a drink? Why yes I would, thank you very much.
“I’m the luckiest man on the planet and boy did I have fun, [but those solutions] just weren’t the answer.”
It’s alleged that Dr Plasencia met Perry in various locations including a parking lot, in Long Beach, where he administered ketamine.
This continued even after Perry has “an adverse reaction” that cause his body to “freeze up” – a deeply concerning side-effect.
So-called ‘Ketamine Queen’ Jasveen Sangha also allegedly sold him 50 vials for $11,000.
When police raided her property they found stashes of ketamine and coke, bottles of Xanax and thousands of methamphetamine pills.
In the three days leading up to Perry’s death, he had used ketamine 27 times – including the fatal time before he got into the hot tub.
“My addiction being my best friend and my evil friend, my punisher and my lover all in one, my big terrible thing,” Perry says.
Some of his inner turmoil seemed to stem from childhood. Aged five, he was sent on an plane unattended, which he found “completely terrifying”.
He had little contact with his “journeyman” actor dad John, most famed for his casting as The Old Spice Guy in the popular body spray brand.
“I saw his face more often on TV and in magazines than I did in reality , perhaps that’s why I became an actor,” Perry added.
At 14, he got drunk for the first time after downing an entire bottle of wine and experienced euphoria, believing it blocked out his demons.
“I laid on the ground and looked at the skies and felt better than I ever had in my entire life. I thought this is probably what normal people feel like all the time,” he says.
Sadly the addiction led him to attend rehabs 12 times and to spend more than £9m in the process.
Perry added: “I have lived half of my life in treatment centre or sober living house, which is fine when your 24 years old but not fine… now I was 49, still struggling to get this monkey off my back.”
Prior to his death, Perry had often posted concerning messages online that indicated he was high – including mentioning how good the water felt on his body while in the hot tub.
“The disease (addiction) is outside doing one arm push-ups just waiting, waiting for you, waiting to get you alone because alone you lose to the disease,” he once said, during a period where he was “finally feeling ok”.
Next month, Sangha, 42, goes on trial for five counts of ketamine distribution, including one count that resulted in death.
Her lawyer Mark Geragos vehemently rejects all allegations and sensationally claimed she “never met” and “had nothing to do with” Perry.
“All the supposed rumours are just that, urban legends,” he said. “The so called theory that the fatal dose is somehow linked to my client is absolute garbage.”
Iwamasa has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
Plasencia was the last to flip and pleaded guilty last month, just weeks before his pre-trial hearing was due, admitting to four counts of illegally distributing ketamine in connection with Perry’s death.
Under the terms of his plea deal, an additional three distribution charges and two counts of falsifying records were dismissed.
The four have been granted bail and will appear in court for sentencing in the coming months.
Jasveen Sangha has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Sangha is also charged with one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
She will appear at a pre-trial hearing at the beginning of August.
Estrada previously said the defendants in the case took advantage of Perry’s longtime battle with addiction.
“They knew what they were doing was wrong,” the lawyer said in a press conference.
“They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry, but they did it anyways.”
He added: “In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being.”
Despite his tragic death, Perry has left a profound legacy.
The way he spoke publicly about addiction has undoubtedly saved lives, and he is trapped in time as our beloved Chandler Bing whenever we put on a soothing old episode of Friends.
The Matthew Perry Foundation also aims to “raise awareness, reduce stigma, and provide support to people seeking recovery.”
I just hope his family and friends get justice and closure, so they can focus on the work they are doing to honor his life.
He may not have always been understood, but he will be greatly missed.
