Los Angeles Police say they are investigating how Friends star Matthew Perry died.

 

Los Angeles police said Tuesday they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Matthew Perry, star of the comedy television series "Friends," who died last October from the "acute effects" of taking the anesthetic ketamine.

Perry's assistant found him unconscious in the Jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home on October 28, when the star was fifty-four.

The Los Angeles County coroner's report said Perry, who rose to fame as the comic character Chandler Bing on "Friends," died from the "acute effects" of taking the anesthetic ketamine. Wu called his death an "accident," but it remains under investigation.

The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement that it was "continuing to investigate the circumstances of Perry's death, with the assistance of the Federal Drug Control Police and the U.S. Postal Service, based on the forensic report.

Ketamine, a drug intended for medical and veterinary anesthesia but sometimes abused for recreational purposes such as stimulation or euphoria, was part of Perry's treatment for depression and was administered during medically supervised sessions.

The investigation is now focusing on how Matthew Perry obtained ketamine even though he did not undergo a medically supervised injection session in the days before his death.

Friends was wildly popular when NBC aired its ten seasons between 1994 and 2004, which included 230 episodes about the lives of six young New Yorkers.

The series made prominent stars of its then relatively unknown cast, which included Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, in addition to Perry.

Perry, who portrayed one of the audience's favorite characters, had worked hard for years to get rid of his addiction to drugs and alcohol and had been in and out of rehab centers.

In his memoir published last year, Perry admitted that he underwent 65 rehab sessions to get rid of his addiction, spending more than $9 million.

He underwent many surgeries related to his drug addiction problems, including a colon surgery that lasted seven hours in 2018, and even went so far as to say, "I should be dead."

During his most recent television appearance, Perry surprised viewers by admitting that he suffered from severe anxiety "every night" during the filming of Friends.

The comedy series narrates the adventures of a group of friends, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Ross and Chandler, in New York, which sparks romantic relationships between them, including between Monica and Chandler.

In the final stages of the series, all six heroes were paid approximately $1 million per episode. Variety magazine even reported that they wanted to be paid $2.5 million each to film the 2021 reunion episode.

During that episode, Matthew Perry caused concern among fans due to his apparent stuttering.