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Keith Morrison believed his stepson, Matthew Perry, was sober at the time of his death and warned the Friends star’s drug suppliers that their family would get justice.
“It appeared to us as if he was [sober],” Keith, 77, told Savannah Guthrie while appearing on the Monday, October 28, episode of Today, which marked the one-year anniversary of Matthew’s passing.
However, Matthew’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, shook her head to imply that she disagreed. “Not to you?” Keith asked Suzanne. “It certainly seemed like it to me.”
“Though he had been treated with ketamine, that it hadn’t turned into something that he couldn’t control,” Keith added. “Although, he was a guy who would make decisions. ‘I can handle this. I can do this. I can tell you what’s right. I know the whole system inside and out. I know what the drug will do to me.’ So, there was the worry [of like], ‘What’s he really doing?’”
Matthew died at the age of 54 on October 28, 2023. He was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home after he seemingly drowned. The Fools Rush In actor’s cause of death was eventually revealed as the “acute effects of ketamine.” While he had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy to treat anxiety and depression, his last treatment had been a week and a half before he died.
An investigation was launched regarding Matthew’s sudden death, and it was found that the ketamine he ingested was not legally prescribed by a doctor. In August, Dr. Mark Chavez, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Erik Fleming, Kenneth Iwamasa and “Ketamine Queen” Javeen Sangha were arrested for their suspected involvement in Matthew’s death.
Chavez, 54, Iwamasa, 59, and Fleming, 54, have all pleaded guilty, while Sangha, 41, and Plasencia, 42, have both pleaded not guilty to their charges.
Keith also addressed the upcoming trials of the people accused of supplying Matthew the fatal drugs during his family’s joint appearance on Today.
“What I’m hoping, and I think the agencies that got involved in this are hoping, that people who have put themselves in the business of supplying people with the drugs that will kill them—they are now on notice. It doesn’t matter what your professional credentials are,” he said. “You are going down, baby.”
Keith made the comments shortly after he and his daughter, Caitlin Morrison, reflected on Matthew’s death while speaking to HELLO! Canada. He said that his late stepson “would like to be remembered for doing something to help people suffering from addiction.”
Meanwhile, Caitlin, 43, revealed how working as the executive director of the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada helped her stay close to her brother. “I have this treasure of getting to keep him very, very close to my life all the time, which is wonderful,” she said.
She added that her work with the foundation makes her feel “like I’m sitting right next to Matthew, working with him every day on something that was important to him.”
“The Matthew Perry Foundation was established to honor Matthew Perry’s profound legacy and unwavering commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction,” according to the website.
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