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Matthew Perry's unexpected passing sent shockwaves down the industry as prominent industry veterans and fans mourned the loss of a beloved 'Friend'. Matthew Perry was found allegedly drowned to death in his Pacific Palisades home on October 28. Although foul play and the presence of drugs were ruled out, a delay in the release of a full toxicology report prompted many to speculate.
Update: On December 15, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner's autopsy examination revealed that Matthew Perry passed away due to the effects of anesthetic Ketamine. The report also lists "drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine effects" as contributing factors.
Perry was very open regarding his struggles with alcohol and opioid addiction, which he had detailed in his memoir. He had also revealed that he was taking Suboxone to help with his opioid addiction. According to the Addiction Center website, prescription drugs were allegedly recovered from his home. An Inside Edition report revealed that Suboxone can be fatal if taken while taking "long baths in hot water".
Suboxone can have dangerous side effects
Matthew Perry was found unresponsive by his assistant in his Pacific Palisades house on October 28. Reports indicate that the actor had allegedly drowned. A full toxicology report has not yet been released, detailing his actual cause of death.
The cause of death was to be revealed by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office on Sunday, but its findings were deferred and are awaiting further testing. Authorities ruled out foul play as an option and stated that there were no illegal drugs present at the scene. The initial results of a November 2 autopsy revealed that fentanyl and meth were not found in Matthew Perry's body.
According to an Addiction Center article, a source revealed that undetermined prescription drugs were found at the scene. Matthew stated in his memoir that he took a prescription drug called Suboxone to help him with his addiction. He revealed:
"Half the doctors I speak to say I should be on Suboxone for at least a year, but probably the rest of my life."
He said that it was difficult to get "all the way" off the prescription drug. He added:
"Which is ironic because it's the drug used to get you off other drugs."
Suboxone is prescribed to people struggling with drug addiction to reduce opioid dependence and is slated to be highly effective. An Inside Edition report revealed that an ingredient in the drug can have "life-threatening side effects" if the drug was ingested while "taking long baths in hot water".
Inside Edition speculated that if Matthew Perry had used a Suboxone patch while in the hot tub, it could have been absorbed faster by the body, which as stated by the drugmaker itself has the potential to lead to an overdose. Suboxone is also revealed to have more side effects including irregular heartbeats and shallow breathing.
Matthew Perry has been to "death’s door" twice
Matthew Perry was very open in talking about his three-decade-long struggle with addiction. He detailed various instances in his life that were deeply affected by these struggles in his memoir which was released last year, 'Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir'.
Becoming an alcoholic at the age of 14, Matthew Perry had previously revealed to People magazine that he thought that he had a handle on things before realizing that he didn't. At one point his weight had even dropped down to 128 pounds. He told People magazine in an interview from last year:
"I could handle it, kind of, but by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble."
After a jet-ski accident in '97, Perry became addicted to Vicodin, which he revealed to have taken 55 pills a day. His first major drug-related health scare came in 2000 when Perry was hospitalized due to pancreatitis induced by alcohol. He revealed that he had constantly shown up hungover to the "Friends' set, although not drinking there. When his co-stars tried helping him, he was in denial.
He had to enter rehab in 2001 for struggling with various drugs, halting the production of the hit series for 2 months. In a BBC 2 interview in 2016, Perry revealed that his addiction got so bad that he did not remember filming three whole seasons of 'Friends' (Seasons 3-6).
The actor had quite a close shave with death in 2018 when his colon burst due to opioid abuse. He spent 5 whole months in the hospital, for 2 weeks of which he was in a coma. The actor, who was initially hooked to an ECMO machine and had to wear a colonoscopy bag for 9 months revealed in a People magazine interview that the doctors had told his family that he had "a two percent chance to live".
He further stated:
"There were five people put on an ECMO machine that night, and the other four died, and I survived. So the big question is why? Why was I the one? There has to be some kind of reason."
Another close brush with death came a couple of years after the colon burst when he abused ketamine infusions and prescription Oxycontin, which he received by faking pain, while in a rehab in Switzerland. A propofol injection he took prior to surgery resulted in his heart stopping for five minutes. The CPR that took to successfully revive Matthew Perry ended up breaking 8 of his ribs.
In a 2022 New York Times interview Perry revealed that he spent around $9 million on addiction and the resultant treatment. He had gotten 14 surgeries and had gone in and out of rehab 15 times. He revealed in his memoir:
"I’ve been in a mental institution, gone to therapy twice a week for thirty years, been to death’s door."
The actor finally got sober in 2021, crediting his therapist for his doing so. Matthew Perry's therapist had told him to equate drugs with using a colostomy bag for the rest of his life, which struck a chord with the actor, who revealed in his memoir that he was never again interested in doing drugs.
Matthew Perry's turn as the delightfully witty Chandler Bing in the hit 90s sitcom, 'Friends' immortalized him in the hearts and minds of many and created for him, an unwavering, die-hard fanbase. Perry was laid to rest in November at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park. His funeral was attended by all his Friends co-stars.
