In October 2023, actor Matthew Perry died from the acute effects of drugs, with contributing factors including drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine. Investigations revealed that Perry's live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, had been administering ketamine injections to him multiple times daily in the days leading up to his death, despite lacking medical training. Iwamasa, along with two doctors—Dr. Mark Chavez and Dr. Salvador Plasencia—and two others, were charged in connection with Perry's death.
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So what really happened to actor Matthew Perry, and why is this doctor facing over a hundred years in prison? Well, it all starts with this kid, Matthew. And Matthew's a teenager during this time, living in Canada, and bro has a problem. He doesn't feel like he's good enough, like he's an outsider who will never be loved, and this is an overwhelming feeling for him.
But one day, when he's a little older, he discovers something that makes that feeling go away. Alcohol. And so Matthew starts drinking regularly. And as time goes on, he starts to grow dependent on alcohol. But it's okay that he's drinking right now because he has a long-term plan. He's gonna become a famous actor one day and fame will make him stop feeling like he's not good enough.
And so he moves to Los Angeles and he starts going on auditions. And he, you know, he gets some stuff. But then in 1994, when he's 24 years old, he's cast as Chandler on the sitcom Friends. And Matthew nails this role. He improvises some of the best lines in the show. You have to stop the Q-tip when there's resistance.
And as you already know, this show is not only a hit, it becomes the biggest show on the planet. So, of course, Matthew blows up and all of a sudden he's a huge celebrity now and people all over the world love him. In fact, this show is so successful, the whole cast goes on to become some of the highest paid actors of all time. making over a million dollars a week.
However, even though Matthew has finally achieved everything he wanted, all this fame and money doesn't do what he thought it would do, and he still feels like he isn't good enough. And so he keeps drinking every night, and he does painkillers, and sometimes he does harder drugs, and his addiction starts to get really bad.
In fact, it gets so bad, he films entire seasons of Friends without even remembering filming them, And then one day his co-star Jennifer Aniston comes into his dressing room and she tells him straight up, Matthew, I can smell the alcohol on you. I think you need help. And there he learns that the whole cast is worried about him.
And so he starts going to rehab and he attends rehab several times throughout the filming of the series. But even with all that going on, somehow Bro is able to make it through all 10 seasons and the show is still a giant success when it ends in 2004. And nearly 20 years go by and it's 2023 and Matthew is 54 now and he's still battling with his addictions.
And at this point, Matthew's gone to rehab 15 times. He's done weekly therapy. He's attended over 6,000 AA meetings. He spent over $7 million trying to get clean. But somehow, it keeps coming back, along with that horrible feeling. That feeling that he's not good enough. But then, one day, he gets a little hope. Matthew goes to a doctor to get help with depression and anxiety.
And the doctor treats him with a different kind of drug. Ketamine. And surprisingly, this actually works. Matthew starts to get a bit of relief from this awful feeling that he's been having for so long. But here's the thing about ketamine, though.
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