One year after his death, Matthew Perry’s family has opened up about the loss — and what they think about those charged in the actor’s death.
Perry, who starred as Chandler Bing on “Friends,” was found unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28, 2023. The medical examiner later ruled he died due to “acute effects of ketamine,” which he’d been using through his regular doctor. But when that doctor wouldn’t prescribe a higher dosage, the actor began obtaining it through other people, and now five suspects have been charged in connection to his death.
In an interview with “Today” that aired on Monday, Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, said she was “thrilled” about the five indictments. And Perry’s stepfather, “Dateline NBC” correspondent Keith Morrison, said they send a message to others involved in the drug trade that accountability is coming.
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“What I’m hoping — and I think the agencies that got involved in this are hoping — [is] that people who have put themselves in the business of supplying people with the drugs that will kill them, that they are now on notice, that it doesn’t matter what your professional credentials are. You’re going down baby,” Morrison told “Today” host Savannah Guthrie.
Dr. Mark Chavez is one of three people who have pleaded guilty in connection to Perry’s fatal overdose. He was charged with conspiring to distribute ketamine and agreed to cooperate as the U.S. Attorney’s Office pursues more serious charges against Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who has pleaded not guilty to charges related to prosecutors saying he gave the drug.
The other three charged in the case include Jasveen Sangha — who authorities say is known as “the ketamine queen” and was the source of the supply, though she’s pleaded not guilty — Perry’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and the actor’s acquaintance, who have both pleaded guilty. Iwamasa was accused of injecting Perry with ketamine, and Fleming was charged with distributing the drug.
Perry had been open about his decades-long battle with alcohol and drug abuse and his hope to help others with their struggles, particularly in his 2022 memoir after he became sober. Speaking to “Today,” the actor’s parents and three sisters all agreed that they don’t think he even released he had relapsed at the time of his death.
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Morrison also told People that Perry “believed somehow that this particular drug that he was taking wasn’t addictive, that it wouldn’t kill him. And of course it did.”
But now, the family hopes they can carry on Perry’s “dying wish,” which Morrison told People was to be remembered “for helping other people.”
“That has now become our mission in life, is to carry that wish on,” he told the publication.
That mission lives in The Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada, which is run by Suzanne and Perry’s half-sister Caitlin. There is also the U.S.-based Matthew Perry Foundation, with its mission statement on its website saying it’s “the realization of Matthew’s enduring commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction.”
