MATTHEW PERRY WHAT HE KEPT HIDDEN

Sources talk to Us about the true extent of the star's addiction, his lonely life and the trail of lies he left behind

- STEPHANIE RADVAN

In the year leading up to Matthew Perry's shocking Oct. 28, 2023, death, it seemed that the 54-year-old Friends star who had long struggled with addiction - was on the up and up. While promoting his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Terrible Thing, in September 2022, he revealed he was 18 months clean. Filmmaker Adam McKay, who had cast Perry in 2021's Don't Look Up before the actor had to pull out due to a medical emergency, said Perry had plans for an ambitious superhero comeback project. Athenna Crosby, a model and entertainment reporter, had met Perry for lunch at the Hotel BelAir the day before he died. "He was talking about how excited he was to have a second act," Crosby told Us on Nov. 1. "He was in a positive place and being extra healthy."

But Perry’s autopsy report soon indicated otherwise. The 29-page document, released on Dec. 15, revealed that the beloved actor, who was found face down in the hot tub at his Pacific Palisades, Calif., home, had died from “acute effects of ketamine.” While Perry had been on ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression, the medical examiner concluded the drugs in his system — equivalent to the amount used during general anesthesia — couldn’t have been from his last known therapy session, a week and a half before he died, suggesting that he may have been using the drug recreationally. (The autopsy docs stated that Perry had been reportedly clean for 19 months.)

An insider tells Us those who knew Perry best were not surprised: “Everybody close to Matthew was saying he died from an overdose.” The insider adds that some friends believed Perry never got proper help for his mental health. “The way he dealt with that was to isolate. Since [Friends ended], he was set financially and didn’t have to work, so it created an environment to use.”