15 August 2024 , 16:37
443
0
Arrests have been made in connection with Matthew Perry’s tragic fatal overdose after he was found dead in a hot tub at his California home in October 2023
Arrests have been made in connection with Matthew Perry’s death, according to reports.
The Friends actor was found dead in a hot tub at his California home in October 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office attributed the actor’s death to the acute effects of ketamine.
It’s now been reported that a doctor and multiple drug dealers have been arrested over Matthew’s death, according to TMZ. The unnamed medic and dealers were arrested over claims they gave the Friends actor the ketamine that killed him.
The identities of those that have been arrested have not been disclosed and it’s unclear if they’ve been charged. The Friends icon had been receiving prescribed ketamine therapy to treat his anxiety and depression.
However, he had not had one of those prescribed treatments for a week-and-a-half prior to his death. Police confirmed earlier this year that they were working with federal authorities to investigate the source of the ketamine the actor had consumed.
The autopsy revealed that the amount of ketamine the actor had in his blood when he died was in the range for general anaesthesia during surgery. The "acute effects of ketamine" was listed as the primary cause of death, which was ruled an accident with no foul play suspected.
The post-mortem revealed that other contributing factors to his death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which can be used to treat opioid use disorder. Matthew was open about his battle with substance abuse and addiction, setting up a sober living facility for men with similar issues.
In his memoir Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing, Matthew opened up on his substance abuse problems, his rise to fame and being one sixth of the biggest TV show in the world. He revealed how much time and money he spent trying to stay sober.
He wrote: "I have spent upward of $7m (£5.8m) trying to get sober. I have been to 6,000 AA meetings… I’ve been to rehab fifteen times." Matthew was honest about his anxiety and heartbreakingly admitted: "If I didn’t have alcohol to soothe my nerves and help me have fun, I would have leaped off a tall building sometime in my 20s."
He spoke about his anxiety over not being funny enough to get laughs from the live TV audience. During Friends: The Reunion, he confessed: "To me, I felt like I was gonna die if they didn’t laugh", admitting that his mindset was "not healthy for sure".
The actor revealed that there were times when failing to make people laugh would cause him to "sweat and just go into convulsions". He also recalled living in a treatment centre in Malibu when filming Chandler and Monica’s wedding.
He was permitted to return to the Friends set with his "sober technician" to shoot the two-part episode, at the end of season seven, before he was driven back to the facility.