Matthew Perry was given a total of 27 ketamine shorts in his three final days before his tragic death at age 54 in October 2023, a new documentary has revealed.
The beloved “Friends” actor’s final moments were laid bare by US Attorney Martin Estrada in a new Peacock documentary, titled “Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy.”
According to the autopsy report, Perry’s death was chalked up to “acute effects of ketamine” and the manner was accidental drowning.
The “Whole Nine Yards” actor had been candid about his struggles with addiction and substance abuse, which the documentary covers.
In the documentary, Estrada — who oversaw the case into Perry’s death before stepping down in January — said that the late actor had received 27 doses of ketamine from “people who should have known much better.”
“Dr. Plasencia was very clear in text messages… that he saw this as an opportunity to make a lot of money in a short amount of time, and he allegedly did just that,” Estrada says in the new documentary.
The documentary also covers the five arrests that were made in Perry’s death probe, which include two doctors, his live-in personal assistant, and an alleged drug dealer known as “the Ketamine Queen.”
Some of them are still awaiting trial, such as Dr. Salvador Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha, who has been dubbed the “Ketamine Queen.” Both of them pleaded not guilty to the crime and US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett has set the pair’s joint trial for March 4, 2025.
Perry’s former live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, pleaded guilty on Aug. 7, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
“In the past, we used to call these things overdose deaths and do more blaming of the victim,” Estrada says in the documentary.
“We don’t do that anymore. We blame the drug dealers, the drug sellers, for taking advantage of those addiction issues to cause death or serious injury, and that’s why we bring these cases.”
“The big takeaway from this case is that when people involved in reckless activity, whether that be drug dealing or other activity, cause the death of others, there needs to be accountability,” Estrada added.
On the morning of his death, Perry is said to have asked the long-time assistant to administer the first ketamine shot of the day at about 8:30 a.m., according to the plea agreement Iwamasa signed.
Four hours later, Iwamasa injected another dose while the actor was watching a movie at his Pacific Palisades home, the filing said.
It was only about 40 minutes later that Perry asked for yet another ketamine shot, Iwamasa recalled, according to the court papers.
“Shoot me up with a big one,” the actor apparently told Iwamasa before instructing his assistant to prepare the hot tub.
After injecting his boss with the third dose in as little as six hours, Iwamasa set off to run errands, the documents say.
Iwamasa, who had worked for the actor since 1994, found Perry face down in the hot tub when he eventually returned to the home.
At the time of his death, Perry had been undergoing weeks of ketamine therapy for depression.
