Matthew Perry’s ex and former assistant said the late “Friends” star vowed never to use intravenous drugs out of his extreme fear from needles.
A federal investigation into Perry’s death, however, revealed he had been injected with ketamine at least 21 times in the last week of his life.
“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,” Kayti Edwards told the Mirror in an interview published Friday. “He didn’t even want to have tattoos.”
Edwards admitted she would “often see [Perry] very high and using lots of different drugs,” which “scared” her because she warned him that mixing substances would kill him.
“But he was like, ‘You only die when you use needles … and I would never, ever, ever do that,'” she recalled.
Edwards and the “17 Again” star dated in 2006, and then she worked for him as an assistant in 2011.
They remained friends up until his death last October at age 54.
Authorities arrested and charged five people, including two doctors and his assistant, for their roles in Perry’s death from ketamine.
Officials said Perry’s then-assistant, Kenneth “Kenny” Iwamasa, administered the final dose of the drug that would cause the actor to pass out and drown in his hot tub.
Iwamasa, 59, went on to discover Perry floating face down in the water.
He pleaded guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and faces 15 years in prison when sentenced in his federal case.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez were also arrested and charged alongside “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha and alleged street dealer Erik Fleming.
Law enforcement obtained a text from Plasencia, an urgent care physician in Calabasas, Calif., that showed his and Chavez’s motives and complete disregard for the “Whole Nine Yards” star’s life.
He once wrote, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets [sic] find out.”
The “Fools Rush In” actor had 3.54 micrograms permilliliterr of ketamine in his bloodstream at the time of his death, which is equivalent to the amount used in general anesthesia.
Dr. Bankole Johnson, one of the leading neuroscientists and physicians in the world, previously said that ketamine is “generally safe when administered by trained health professionals in a medical setting for the treatment of depression or post traumatic stress disorder.”
Perry, however, had been going for professional ketamine infusions. His last official visit had taken place more than a week before his death.
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