Matthew Perry‘s friends had suspected he died of a drug overdose before the official cause of death was revealed, according to a new report. The actor, who had been open about his addiction struggles for years, unexpectedly died at the age of 54 on October. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office determined it was due to “acute effects of ketamine.” The report also listed drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine, which is a drug used to treat opioid use, as contributing factors in the accidental death.
“He’s been struggling with sobriety for years,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly. “Every time he fell off the wagon there was a huge sense of shame.”
“After Friends ended there was a lot of depression and disappointment in his career,” the source continued. “He struggled with his mental health but never got help for it. The way he dealt with that was to isolate. Since the show, he was financially taken care of and didn’t have to work, so it created an environment to use.”
Matthew wrote about his experience with ketamine in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, and admitted he felt it had his name “written all over it.” He also said he felt like “dying” during the treatments but decided to “continually sign up for this s–t” because “it was something different, and anything different is good. Taking K is like being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel. But the hangover was rough and outweighed the shovel.”
In addition to his struggle with ketamine, Matthew wrote about going to rehab 15 times over the years to help treat his addictions. His loved ones still apparently worried that his struggles would become harder because of his loneliness.
“It was like a tale of loneliness and how having all the money and fame can’t really save anyone,” the source added. “Fame was a distraction from his depression and addiction but when that went away he no longer had that distraction. He was living an isolated life.”
Matthew’s final serious relationship was with talent manager Molly Hurwitz and after that ended, things weren’t the same for the star. “He was never the same after that. He tried dating after that but he just didn’t have a connection,” the insider shared. “A big part of sadness in his life is also that he didn’t have children. He wanted a family and he never found that person to settle down with and he was lonely.”