Matthew Perry’s former partner and assistant has insisted he was petrified of needles.
Matthew Perry’s former partner and assistant has insisted he was petrified of needles
The actor – propelled to global fame playing Chandler Bing on NBC sitcom ‘Friends’ from 1994 to 2004 and who was killed on 28 October, 2023, aged 54 from the “acute effects” of anaesthetic ketamine after receiving three injections of the drug – has had the circumstances of his death questioned by his ex-employee Kayti Edwards.
She told the Daily Mirror about how she was convinced he would never agree to being injected as he told he had a fear of dying from a jab: “This is the weird thing to me… Matthew always, always told me that he would never, ever, use needles or inject anything into his body. He didn’t even want to have tattoos.
“I would often see him very high and using lots of different drugs. I would always get so scared, and tell him that he had to stop mixing all this stuff, saying, ‘You’re gonna die.’
“But he was like… ‘You only die when you use needles… and I would never, ever, ever do that.’”
Kayti, 47, was Matthew’s assistant in 2011, and she dated the ‘Friends’ star in 2006, with the pair staying friends until his death.
Matthew’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, has told authorities he administered three doses of ketamine by injection to the actor on the day he died.
But Kayti said: “When I heard that he let his assistant do it, I just couldn’t understand, especially as he had no medical training.”
Iwamasa was among five people indicted over Matthew’s death, and he has already pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine causing death.
He admitted in plea deal papers to “repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training”.
US Attorney Martin Estrada said two doctors charged in connection to the actor’s death “cared more about profiting off of Mr Perry than caring for his well-being”.
He added: “Matthew Perry’s journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday, to street dealers who gave him ketamine in unmarked vials.”
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