Friends star Matthew Perry, who died of a ketamine overdose last month aged 54, was “never” clean.
The star said in his bestselling 2022 memoir that he finally overcame his addiction with the help of a sober coach and best friend.
However, a close friend of the star, who did not want to be named, said: “He lied to everyone about his cleanliness.” He never was. It's very sad. You know, the biggest lie he told was probably directed at himself.'
The source added: “He could be quite a manipulative person when it came to his issues with drinking, but it was such a battle, such a battle, and he fought every day until the end.”
A close friend of Matthew Perry said: “He lied to everyone about his cleanliness.” He never was. It's very sad. You know, the biggest lie he told was probably directed at himself.'
Perry was found face down in the hot tub next to the swimming pool at his Los Angeles home at 4:17 p.m. on October 28th
The Friends star was laid to rest at an intimate ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, attended by his Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox and David Schwimmer
An autopsy released Friday found the star died from “acute effects of ketamine” and drowning, with Perry having similar amounts of ketamine in his body as a hospital patient under general anesthesia.
“The Los Angeles County coroner has determined the cause of death for 54-year-old actor Matthew Langford Perry to be the acute effects of ketamine,” the Los Angeles coroner’s office said Friday.
“Factors contributing to Mr. Perry's death include drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder). The manner of death is accidental.'
Perry was found face down in the hot tub next to the swimming pool at his Los Angeles home at 4:17 p.m. on October 28th.
The coroner reported that he had received ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression, but the last session was a week and a half before his death and the ketamine only stays in your body for three to four hours, meaning it did not lead to improvement led directly to his death.
“Given the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood samples, the fatal consequences would be primarily due to overstimulation of the cardiovascular system and respiratory depression,” concluded forensic pathologist Raffi Djabourian.
Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine combined with drowning, the Los Angeles coroner's office announced Friday
Officers secured the road leading to Perry's home, where he was found dead on Oct. 28
The Batman logo at the bottom of his pool is seen here in a daylight aerial shot. Perry's body was found in the hot tub next to the pool, at the bottom of this photo
A year before his death, he published a tell-all memoir that included shocking details of his drug and alcohol addictions.
But he said in October 2022 that he was 18 months sober, although that was a year before his death.
Entertainment reporter Athenna Crosby had lunch with him the day before his death and said he was so concerned with his sobriety that he refused to hold the wine list.
Perry wrote that he spent $9 million trying to get sober, attended 6,000 AA meetings, went to rehab 15 times and detoxed 65 times.
At his lowest point, he was taking 55 Vicodin a day to fuel his addiction.
Perry said he overcame addiction in 2021 and is living a healthier lifestyle.
He took up pickle ball – a game similar to tennis and table tennis – and usually played it twice a day, friends said.
Perry wrote in his memoirs that throughout his drug addiction and recovery, he had a personal assistant who he considered his rock and his “best friend.”
Morgan Moses, mentioned in the book only by the pseudonym “Erin,” first met Perry when he was admitted to a rehab facility where she worked.
The couple then struck up a friendship that lasted nearly a decade and became the closest and most loving – albeit always platonic – relationship of his life.
Perry is pictured on October 22 – the last time he was seen in public
Perry is seen with Morgan Moses, who he says “saved his life” after she sat by his bedside every night for five months while he recovered from an intestinal explosion
Moses, 37, was a “sober companion” who the troubled Friends star described as “the nicest person in the world”.
On her LinkedIn page, Moses says she has been working “full-time” as a “sober companion” since 2018.
Her listed competencies include “therapeutic crisis intervention,” “mental health first aid,” “behavioral intervention,” and “nutritional counseling.”
Originally a website designer, she graduated from Full Sail University in Florida. Her social media suggests that she has also had her own struggles with addiction and her own journey to sobriety.
When investigators searched Perry's home, they did not find illegal drugs, but rather prescription medications that were properly labeled and stored in storage bottles.
However, the coroner found evidence of his years of drug and alcohol abuse. Perry suffered from “chronic hepatic congestion, liver” – a precursor to liver cirrhosis – although it had not yet progressed to liver cirrhosis.
He also suffered from nephrosclerosis of the kidneys – a hardening of the tissue caused by long-term, poorly controlled high blood pressure and long-term drug use.
Perry's autopsy also revealed chronic pancreatic fibrosis – opioids are suspected of damaging the pancreas.
His heart and lungs also suffered significant damage.
Perry weighed 216 pounds and was slightly obese.
In his memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry wrote that after his colon exploded in 2018, he was prescribed opiates that he felt were not enough to relieve his pain.
This led him to turn to street dealers to supply him with potentially deadly OxyContin, possibly laced with fentanyl.
“The street pills were about $75 a pill, so I gave the guy $3,000 several times a week,” he wrote.
Perry was laid to rest at an intimate ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, attended by his Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox and David Schwimmer.