MATTHEW PERRY TRAGEDY: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED!

Warning signs ignored before Friends star's hot tub death

BELOVED but troubled Friends star Matthew Perry didn't have to die! That's the shocking conclusion of investigators - and insiders - who say the truth behind the tragic funnyman's final minutes is being buried by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

Sources exclusively tell The National ENQUIRER that despite Perry's recent efforts to assure everyone he was clean and sober, he hid his personal anguish from his sitcom costars and others close to him, leaving him to be swallowed up by depression and anxiety.

Ironically, his acting worked too well! Matthew was able to fool his loved ones into thinking he was doing fine, according to sources who say the star was largely left to his own devices.

But behind the scenes, Perry would down antianxiety meds - and he ultimately was found dead at the bottom of a jacuzzi behind his home!

"Matthew's friends got the message that he was okay, never realizing they were signing his death warrant by respecting his requests for privacy," says an insider. "If only he'd gotten more support, he may have been able to deal with the demons that devoured him in the end!" The 54-year-old sitcom favorite's corpse was found underwater at his Pacific Palisades digs on Oct. 28.

He'd long battled drugs and alcohol abuse, but before dying he claimed to be clean and sober since 2021.