The death of actor Matthew Perry, star of the series “Friends,” was due to “the acute effects” of ketamine ingestion, the Los Angeles County forensic pathology office said Friday.
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However, other factors also contributed to his death, which was ruled an “accidental” according to the same source: “drowning,” “coronary heart disease” and “effects of buprenorphine,” a drug used to treat opioid addiction. Ketamine is an anesthetic that is sometimes abused for stimulating or euphoric purposes.
Matthew Perry, 54, was found unconscious in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home by his assistant on October 28.
The man who played “Chandler Bing” on the sitcom “Friends” struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years.
In his memoirs published last year, he claimed to have undergone 65 rehab sessions, spending more than $9 million.
He had also undergone several surgeries related to his drug addiction problems, including a seven-hour colon operation in 2018 that went so far that he said one day, “I should be dead.”
During a television appearance shortly before his death, the actor surprisingly admitted that he suffered from severe anxiety attacks “every night” while filming “Friends”.
A true cultural phenomenon, the series, which aired between 1994 and 2004, left its mark on an entire generation of viewers.
It tells the adventures of a group of happy friends – Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Ross and Chandler – in New York, punctuated by romantic relationships, especially between Monica and Chandler and the endless saga between Rachel and Ross.