Late actor Matthew Perry, known for his role in “Friends,” allegedly obtained drugs from younger people through the dating app “Raya,” reportedly while under the continuous care of a nursing team.
According to DailyMail, Perry managed to discreetly obtain illicit drugs from casual hook-ups without detection, despite a 24/7 nursing team and a live-in sober companion at his Pacific Palisades home.
“He would meet girls on dating apps and have them come over. There was a slew of 21 to 25-year-olds that he would meet on Raya,” a source close to the case reportedly said. “They would bring drugs with them. It was mostly Oxycontin. He would also get illicit drugs from old girlfriends, there was a kind of network.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Perry was found dead on October 28, in a hot tub at his home. He was 54 years old.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner released an autopsy report showing that Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine.” The drug is an anesthetic used primarily to treat depression and other mental health problems, but it is also used recreationally.
“He would hang out with them and then it would be: “Can you bring me something?” the source continued. “He could persuade people that it would not be doing anything wrong. The belief is that he would tell the girls he needed the drugs to treat his pain. In the end he would burn them out and move on to the next one.”
“When nurses or companions are in someone’s home, they do not have the same permissions as in a [rehabilitation] institution. They cannot frisk visitors for drugs.”
Before his death, Perry was reportedly reclusive and kept a small circle of friends. Perry is also said to have been lonely, keeping friends at arm’s length and becoming irritable.
“He was incredibly reclusive in his later years. Some people are coming forward and making out that they saw him a lot but that is not the case,” a source said. ‘”He did not want the people he loved to see him, he did not want them to witness his struggles.”
“Matthew was never able to maintain any type of long term sobriety so everything that you have read in [his memoir] is wrong — he was not sober and was not able to maintain it.”
In his book, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir,” Perry said he received infusions of ketamine at a Swiss rehabilitation clinic and had complicated feelings toward it.
Perry wrote that he would get the ketamine infusions while listening to music and blindfolded. The experience left him feeling like he was “dying,” he wrote.
The medical examiner’s report showed that Perry had continued receiving infusions in California, with the last infusion about a week and a half before he died, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The report said because ketamine’s half-life is only 3 to 4 hours, the infusion could not have been responsible for his death.
Other factors played a role in Perry’s death, including coronary artery disease, drowning, and the effects of buprenorphine, an opioid.
Alcohol, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, PCP, and fentanyl were not found in his system.
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[Feature Photo: FILE – Matthew Perry arrives at the premiere of “Ride” at The Arclight Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles. Perry, who starred as Chandler Bing in the hit series “Friends,” has died. He was 54. The Emmy-nominated actor was found dead of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home on Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times and celebrity website TMZ, which was the first to report the news. Both outlets cited unnamed sources confirming Perry’s death. His publicists and other representatives did not immediately return messages seeking comment. (Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP, File)]
Additional reporting by Jonathan Anderson
