The Los Angeles County coroner said in the autopsy report that Perry also drowned in the “heated end of his swimming pool,” but that was a secondary factor in his Oct. 28 death, which was ruled an accident.
Coronary heart disease and buprenorphine, used to treat opioid use disorder, also contributed, according to the report. Perry was pronounced dead after he was found unresponsive at his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. The autopsy was performed the next day. The actor had taken medication in the past but was “reportedly sober for 19 months,” the report said.
The coroner said he may have received ketamine therapy to treat depression and anxiety, with his last session taking place a week and a half before his death. According to the report, Perry had been playing pickleball earlier in the day and his live-in assistant found him face down in the pool after he returned from shopping. The counselor told investigators that Perry was not ill, had no medical complaints and had shown no signs of recent alcohol or drug use.
Perry had spoken openly about his struggles with substance abuse, dating back to his time on Friends in the 1990s.
“I loved everything about the show, but I struggled with my addictions, which only increased my feelings of shame,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir. “I had a secret and no one could know it.”