The death of beloved Friends star Matthew Perry shocked fans across the world exactly one year ago today.
The American actor, who played the lovable character of Chandler Bing in the US sitcom, died aged 54 on October 28 last year. He was tragically found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home, with the cause of his death ruled as an accident from the 'acute effects of ketamine', a sedative that can be used as a recreational drug.
In the years leading up to his death, Matthew was open about his addiction struggles with drugs and alcohol and had set up a sober living facility for men with similar issues. The Hollywood star suffered with his mental health and had been seeking treatment for depression and anxiety when he became addicted to ketamine.
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BANG Showbiz.)An investigation into Matthew's death unearthed a "broad underground criminal network" of people who "took advantage" of him after he fell back into addiction last autumn. Five people have now been charged with his death and the first will be sentenced on Wednesday. Erik Fleming has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to the distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Matthew is said to have "turned to street dealer" Fleming in the last few weeks of his life. Fleming is said to have sourced ketamine from Jasveen Sangha, named by authorities as "the ketamine queen". The ketamine allegedly supplied by Sangha was ultimately the dose that took Matthew's life, a drug enforcement administrator has claimed.
US attorney Martin Estrada said Matthew turned to allegedly "unscrupulous doctors" who saw him as a "way to make quick money". Salvador Plasencia, a doctor who allegedly used Matthew's live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa to distribute ketamine to the actor, will face trial next March.
Iwamasa has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine, causing death, and has admitted to "repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training". He will be sentenced next month. Meanwhile, another doctor named Mark Chavez will be sentenced in April after admitting to conspiring to distribute the surgical anaesthetic ketamine.
Marking the first anniversary since his death, Matthew's mum, Suzanne Morrison, said she was "thrilled" about the charges over his death. She also said: "It must be said, he was very lonely in his soul... I'm a very lucky woman, but there was one glitch, there was one problem that I couldn't.. conquer it (his addiction), I couldn't help him."
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WireImage)Suzanne told NBC's morning talk show Today that "almost a year ago", Matthew had shared that he believed he would die. She said: "He came up to me and said, 'I love you so much and I'm so happy to be with you now'. It was almost as though it was a premonition or something.
"I didn't think about it at the time but I thought, 'How long has it been since we've had a conversation like that. It's been years'." She also said: "I think there was something… there was an inevitability to what was going to happen next to him, and he felt it very strongly. But he said, 'I'm not frightened anymore'. And it worried me."
Just five days before Matthew died, he posted a photo of him in his hot tub, overlooking the beautiful sights from his California home. He captioned the post: "Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good?" Like most posts that Matthew made, he signed the note off with the phrase "I'm Mattman."
On the same day, the Friends actor made another post which was just a video of the moon. However, the caption was unsettling, reading: "Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" On his final day, his assistant Iwamasa gave Matthew his final injection of ketamine while he sat in his jacuzzi.
"Shoot me up with a big one," Iwamasa remembered Matthew telling him. The assistant then left to run errands. He returned home to find Matthew face down in the hot tub and pulled him out. Paramedics arrived minutes later and declared him dead.
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