The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner has determined the cause of death for Friends star Matthew Perry, who was found unresponsive in the pool at his home in October.
Perry, 54, died from “acute effects of ketamine,” according to the autopsy report obtained Friday by the Associated Press.
The actor was on “ketamine infusion therapy” when he passed away, the report said.
Ketamine therapy is used to treat depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Allied Psychiatry and Mental Health in Newport Beach, California.
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The autopsy said Perry was found in “the heated end of pool,” and listed drowning, coronary artery disease, and effects of buprenorphine, an opioid used to treat opioid use disorder and chronic pain, as contributing factors in his death. The manner of death was ruled accidental.
The actor’s personal assistant found his lifeless body at his home in L.A.’s exclusive Pacific Palisades neighborhood around 4 p.m. on Oct. 28.
Paramedics responded, and Perry was declared deceased. There were no drugs at the scene and there was no evidence of foul play, authorities said at the time.
An autopsy was performed the next day, but the results were deferred pending additional tests.
The actor had a history of substance abuse and detailed his struggles with opioid and alcohol addiction in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.
He said as his star rose, his alcohol addiction got worse. At one point, things were so bad that his colon burst from opioid abuse and he spent two weeks in a coma.
“The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live,” Perry shared in the book. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”
The former child star was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on Aug. 19, 1969, and graduated from high school in Los Angeles.
In addition to his breakout role on Friends, Perry had parts on the TV shows Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Mr. Sunshine, The Good Wife, Silver Spoons, Growing Pains, The West Wing, Ally McBeal, Scrubs, Charles in Charge, Beverly Hills, 90210, and other shows.
On the big screen, he had roles in the films Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, Parallel Lives, and Three to Tango.
His father is actor John Bennett Perry. His mother, Suzanne Morrison, was a press secretary for Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and is married to Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison.
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