How Did Matthew Perry Die? Details About the Actor’s Tragic Death by Drowning

The world was stunned to learn of Matthew Perry’s death on October 28, 2023. The beloved Friends icon was just 54 years old when he died due to an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home. First responders were called to the scene of a cardiac arrest, before Perry was found in his hot tub. Mourning fans are wondering just how the untimely death of the iconic actor occurred. 

How Did Matthew Perry Die? 

Perry died at his Los Angeles home, apparently in the hot tub. He was found in the body of water, according to law enforcement sources who spoke to TMZ, which he had just posted about days prior. 

There were no drugs at the scene according to sources, a direct reflection of Perry’s long-documented addiction that riddled his time while on the hit sitcom that catapulted him to fame. 

Initial autopsy reports stated his cause of death as “deferred” but it was later determined that Perry died from “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner on December 15, 2023. The actor had received ketamine infusion treatment to help manage his depression and anxiety shortly before his death. However, officials reported that the amount of ketamine in his system at the time of death was insufficient to be a contributing factor, noting that "ketamine's half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less."

Perry's death remains under investigation as authorities are now examining the source of the ketamine found in his system.

Inside Matthew Perry’s Health Struggles 

The Friends alum was open about his struggles with substance abuse, admitting that he was taking up to 55 Vicodin a day and weighing in at 128 lbs. At age 24 – right as he was cast on Friends – Perry’s alcohol addiction began to take hold. 

“I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. “But there were years that I was sober during that time. Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, ‘That should tell me something.’”

However, Perry’s addiction would not stand the test of time. “I didn’t know how to stop,” he reflected in his book. “If the police came over to my house and said, ‘If you drink tonight, we’re going to take you to jail,’ I’d start packing. I couldn’t stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older.”

Throughout his struggles, however, the cast of Friends was by his side. They were “patient” and “understanding,” Perry wrote in his memoir. 

“It’s like penguins. Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up. They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That’s kind of what the cast did for me.”

The majority of the Friends cast – including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer – have not yet publicly responded to Perry’s untimely death as of publication.