Matthew Perry 's autopsy report paints a grim picture of the final days of the actor's life.
The document reveals how a female friend had stated that he had become "angry and mean" in the weeks leading up to his death due to testosterone shots he had been taking. The report also details how Matthew had a lethal amount of ketamine in his body, as well as buprenorphine, which is used to ease pain and help with addiction to opioids.
He had also been taking Tamoxifen – a drug typically used to treat breast cancer – to help with weight loss, as well as nicotine lollipops and anti-diabetic medication. He was trying to quit smoking when he died, with his live-in assistant claiming he had been smoking around two packs of cigarettes a day.
The medical examiner’s report – obtained by the Irish Mirror – detailed the extent of Matthew's reliance on both over-the-counter and prescription drugs to get by in life. It states: “In the assistant’s bedroom, there were multiple open, empty, half-filled medication bottles prescribed to the decedent, as well as over-the-counter medications, vitamins, digestive aids and dishes filled with multiple various loose pills, tablets, caplets, candy and breath mints."
It also described how there were “prescribed ointments, digestive aids and oral rinses” in his bathroom. Matthew had been having ketamine infusion treatment regularly prior to passing away. However, the report claimed that the ketamine in his body had come from somewhere else and was not part of the treatments.
Ketamine has a half-life of just three to four hours and his last infusion had been a week-and-a-half before his death. Dr Bankole Johnson – a world renowned neuroscientist – told Page Six that “it is more likely this was recreational ketamine use.” They added: “It would be questionable medicine to provide ketamine to someone also using buprenorphine – a true recipe for disaster.”
Matthew previously wrote about disliking ketamine in his 2022 memoir, 'Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir'. He referred to treatments he received while staying at a Swiss rehab facility during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying: “Taking K is like being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel. But the hangover was rough and outweighed the shovel. Ketamine was not for me.”
Matthew was not meant to be receiving further ketamine infusions, according to his anaesthesiologist, Dr Ataoin, who stated in the autopsy report that he didn't need them anymore as “his depression was fine.” Jennifer Aniston – Matthew's former Friends co-star and personal friend – recalled to Variety earlier this month how she had been texting Matthew on the day he died before he was found unresponsive in his hot tub.
She claimed that he was in a good place, saying: “He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy – that’s all I know. I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.”
