Matthew Perry received 27 shots of ketamine in his three final days, U.S. attorney Martin Estrada claims in a new documentary.
Released Tuesday on Peacock, Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy looks at the Friends star’s final months before his tragic death at the age of 54 from a fatal ketamine overdose in October 2023.
In the documentary, Estrada — who oversaw the case before stepping down in January — says that Perry had been administered 27 doses of ketamine outside of his prescribed ketamine therapy for anxiety and depression, by “people who should have known much better.”
Five people have since been charged in connection to his death, including two doctors, his live-in personal assistant, and an alleged drug dealer known as “the Ketamine Queen.”
According to an indictment unsealed last August, Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and an acquaintance of Perry’s, Erik Fleming, worked with two doctors, Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, to procure large quantities of ketamine for Perry in the period leading up to his death by overdose.
However, “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha is charged with supplying Perry with the ketamine that ultimately caused his demise.
It said Iwamasa gave Perry the final three doses of ketamine purchased from Sangha, using needles provided by Plasencia, on the day the actor was found dead in his hot tub.
“Dr. Plasencia was very clear in text messages… that he saw this as an opportunity to make a lot of money in a short amount of time,” Estrada says in the new documentary, “and he allegedly did just that.”
On October 28, 2023, Iwamasa administered Perry’s first ketamine injection at approximately 8:30 a.m. According to the plea agreement, Iwamasa proceeded to give two more shots—one four hours later, and another roughly 40 minutes after that.
“Shoot me up with a big one,” Perry reportedly instructed his assistant, before requesting him to prepare the hot tub. After completing some errands, Iwamasa returned to discover Perry unconscious, lying face down in the water.
Later that day, court documents reveal a telling exchange—Sangha messaged Fleming with the directive: “Delete all our messages.”
Both Dr. Plasencia and Sangha maintain their innocence, having entered not guilty pleas. Their court proceedings are scheduled to begin March 4 in Los Angeles.
In contrast, Iwamasa, Fleming, and Dr. Chavez have admitted guilt and await their sentencing.
“In the past, we used to call these things overdose deaths and do more blaming of the victim,” says Estrada. “We don’t do that anymore. We blame the drug dealers, the drug sellers, for taking advantage of those addiction issues to cause death or serious injury, and that’s why we bring these cases. The big takeaway from this case is that when people involved in reckless activity, whether that be drug dealing or other activity, cause the death of others, there needs to be accountability.”
Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy is now streaming on Peacock.
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