New Delhi: Matthew Perry’s close friend West Huddleston recalled a statement the Friends star had once made: “It’s weird to be in a world where if I died, it would be shocking but not surprising.”
“And I felt that. It was shocking how it happened, but there was a very big part of me that had been prepping for this for a while. I was not entirely surprised at all,” Huddleston said in Netflix’s docuseries The One About Matthew Perry.
Perry died on 28 October 2023, at the age of 54. According to the medical examiner, his death was caused by the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine listed as contributing factors. He was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home.
Ketamine and Perry’s longtime assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, became central to the investigation into the actor’s death, leaving his family, friends and fans shocked by what had happened. Iwamasa was among the five people arrested in August 2024 in connection with Perry’s death.
“The level of betrayal we all felt,” Perry’s sister, Mia Perry Bowick, said.
Clutches of ketamine
Huddleston recalled a FaceTime call with Perry during which the actor was “missing some teeth”. In his memoir, Perry had written about undergoing dental procedures after years of substance abuse damaged his teeth.
“He knew that was going to put him back on opiates for pain. He was deathly afraid of that spiral again,” Huddleston said.
Some time later, Huddleston recalled seeing Perry visit a ketamine clinic as needed after “he detoxed from the pain meds” and began regaining his energy.
“As a therapist, I was always sceptical about the idea of using a substance to treat a substance use disorder,” Bowick said. However, when she began hearing that Perry was receiving ketamine injections in clinical settings, she said, he appeared to be doing better than ever.
“He shared that he felt like he had a spiritual experience with ketamine, that he had seen that we have multiple lives, that he felt like he saw God in the ketamine,” Bowick said.
Huddleston added that Perry believed ketamine was helping him find relief from the darkness he was experiencing at the time.
“I just heard a lot of hope in his voice,” he said.
On 28 October 2023, Bowick was attending a conference in Denver and had kept her phone switched off throughout the day. She recalled her husband, David, rushing to the hotel bar.
“He’s just staring at me with this look on his face, and I was like, ‘What? What? What?’” Bowick recalled.
“It’s your brother. He’s gone,” he told her.
Also read: Matthew Perry spent $7 million trying to get sober
‘We really trusted him’
Bowick said she did not cry or have any reaction at first. Instead, she replied, “No, he’s not.”
When she switched her phone back on, the first call she received was from Robin Ruzan, Perry’s friend and a co-executor of his estate. Ruzan asked whether the news of his death was true.
“We didn’t know anything about how Matthew had died. The story that most of us were thinking had happened was that he’d had a heart attack while sitting in his jacuzzi,” Bowick said. She recalled a wave of confusion when the autopsy findings were made public.
“That was the first time that I had found out that he was doing extra ketamine on the side,” she said.
Before the identities of those arrested in connection with Perry’s death were revealed, Bowick said she found herself hoping, “I hope it’s not Kenny,” while speaking to her mother on the phone.
“He should have known better. He could have quit his job. He could have come and told one of the family members. He could have done a lot of different things. He could have made a lot of different choices,” Bowick said.
She said she “felt duped, deeply” because the family “all really liked him and really trusted him”.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)