Matthew Perry's Cause Of Death Revealed By Medical Examiner

LOS ANGELES, CA — Actor Matthew Perry died from "the acute effects of ketamine," the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said Friday.

Perry, 54, was found unresponsive in the pool at his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The results of Perry's autopsy were released by the medical examiner on Friday.

"Contributing factors in Mr. Perry's death include drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, used to treat opioid use disorder. The manner of death is accident," the medical examiner's office said in a statement.

Ketamine is a dissociative drug that is most commonly used for anesthesia. In recent years it has been increasingly prescribed by doctors in lower doses for off-label treatment of depression and other mental health conditions. It's also popularly used as a recreational drug for the relaxed state it produces. Higher recreational doses can produce a dissociative, hallucinatory state known as a "K hole."

Buprenorphine can use used to diminish opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings. It's prescribed longer term for people with opioid use disorder in order to prevent relapse, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

After rising to fame in the late 1980s and early 90s, particularly for his role as Chandler Bing on "Friends," Perry faced difficulties with alcoholism and addiction, chronicled in his 2022 memoir "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing." At one point during his time on "Friends," Perry was taking 55 Vicodin a day, he told People magazine.

"I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again," he told People magazine last year. "I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people."

Perry almost died at 49 after his colon burst from opioid overuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital following the incident, People reported. He told the magazine that experience helped him get sober; he had been to rehab 15 times previously.

Perry's death was met with an outpouring of grief from his former costars and the public.

"We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew," the "Friends" cast — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — wrote in the statement. "We were more than just cast mates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we're going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.

Fans laid flowers outside the Manhattan apartment building used as a location for the sitcom.