Police and authorities have said they have launched a criminal investigation into the death of Friends star Matthew Perry last year.
Perry, who was best known for playing Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom, died on October 28 in his home in California, aged 54. Perry’s cause of death was listed as being the result of the acute effects of the anaesthetic ketamine.
“At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” his autopsy read.
Now, Los Angeles Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration have told The Hollywood Reporter that they have launched a joint criminal investigation into his death, and how Perry came to have such high levels of the drug in his system, and in his possession.
Perry’s autopsy also listed drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid addiction, as contributing factors to his death. It was ruled an accident at the time, with no signs of foul play.
Throughout his life, Perry was open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol, which he documented in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing.
He had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy, with his last session taking place just over a week before his death. The autopsy, however, stated that “the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy since ketamine’s half-life is three to four hours or less.”
Perry’s Friends co-star Courteney Cox has said that she still “talks” to him. “I’m so thankful I got to work so closely with him for so many years,” she said. “He visits me a lot, if we believe in that.”
Cox went on to say that she still talks to Perry, as well as other deceased family members. “I talk to my mum, my dad, Matthew,” she continued. “I feel like there are a lot of people that, I think, guide us…I do sense – I sense Matthew’s around for sure.”
