It has been revealed that popular “Friends” star Matthew Perry apparently urged his assistant to give him “a big dose” in the moments before his fatal overdose of ketamine last year.
The timeline of Perry’s gruesome final hours emerged in court documents after his live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and four others were charged Thursday in connection with the Hollywood actor’s shocking death last October.
On the morning of his death, Perry, 54, reportedly asked his longtime assistant at about 8:30 a.m. to give him the first ketamine injection of the day, according to the agreement signed by Iwamasa.
Four hours later, Iwamasa injected himself with another dose while the actor was watching a movie at his Pacific Palisades home, the filing said.
According to court records, Perry asked for another ketamine injection just 40 minutes later, Iwamasa recalled.
“Give me a big shot,” the actor reportedly told Iwamasa before instructing his assistant to prepare the hot tub.
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After injecting his boss with the third dose in just six hours, Iwamasa headed out 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 finally returned home.
At the time of his death, Perry had been undergoing weeks of ketamine therapy for depression.
What you need to know about the hallucinogen ketamine
- Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that makes patients feel detached from their pain and their surroundings.
- Ketamine leaves users feeling calm and immobile, but is also abused for recreational purposes as a “club drug” and to facilitate sexual assault.
- Celebrity endorsement is one of the reasons for the increased number of ketamine prescriptions in recent years.
- In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration approved Spravato, a nasal spray version of the narcotic, to treat treatment-resistant depression.
- Actor Matthew Perry underwent “ketamine infusion therapy” for “depression and anxiety” before his tragic death on October 28, 2023.
His assistant told authorities that he had given his boss at least 27 ketamine injections in the last five days of his life alone – including the last three, which prosecutors said resulted in his “death and serious bodily harm.”
In addition to the two doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, Iwamasa was also charged with suspected street dealer Erik Fleming and Jasveen Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles”.
From September until Perry’s death on October 28, according to the indictment, Plasencia and Chavez supplied the actor with about 20 vials of ketamine in exchange for about $55,000 in cash.
Iwamasa, who had no medical training, injected Perry with the drugs on Plasencia’s orders, prosecutors said.
Authorities believe Perry’s final, fatal dose of ketamine was supplied by Sangha.
Plasencia and Sangha are both charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine in connection with Perry’s death.
Fleming, Iwamasa and Chavez all entered into plea deals in exchange for their admissions to various charges, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine and conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
