Actor Matthew Perry’s autopsy had been conducted by the Los Angeles County medical examiner just days after his death, but the coroner had to await the results from a toxicology report to determine if any foreign substances, including drugs, had contributed to Perry’s death.

On Friday, December 15, 2023, it was reported that Matthew Perry’s official cause of death was tied to the acute effects of ketamine. The US Drug Enforcement Administration lists Ketamine as a “dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects”. It can “can induce a state of sedation (feeling calm and relaxed), immobility, relief from pain, and amnesia.”

Perry’s autopsy noted the actor was on ketamine infusion therapy, his last treatment coming “one and a half weeks before” his death. But the autopsy noted that “the ketamine in Perry’s system at time of death could not be from that infusion therapy, since Ketamine would not last in the system beyond 24 hours. The coroner noted an “unknown route of drug intake.

The autopsy also notes Perry was found “in a residential pool,” with prescription medications and loose pills present at his residence but “none reported near the pool” or “adjacent to the pool.”

No signs of fatal trauma or foul play were suspected, according to the autopsy.

Shortly after Perry’s death, there had been a report that the actor had been found dead just after 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, in the jacuzzi of his home in Pacific Palisades, a ritzy neighborhood located in Los Angeles, California.

The New York Post reported that the Los Angeles Police Department commented that they had, “responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd for a death investigation on a male 4:10 p.m. this afternoon. He was in his 50s.”

TMZ had also reported that sources said first responders rushed over to his Palisades home based on a 911 call for cardiac arrest.

It was reported that no drugs were found at the scene, and there was no indication of foul play.

Also according to TMZ:

We’re told Matthew came home sometime in the AM after a 2-hour round of pickleball, and that he sent his assistant out on errand shortly thereafter. We’re told when the assistant returned about 2 hours later, he discovered Matthew unresponsive … and called 911.

In a New York Times article in October of 2022, his interest in pickleball was mentioned:

Perry’s demeanor brightened when we talked about pickleball, his latest obsession. He built a court at the house he’s moving into in the Palisades. He plays with friends and hired pros. He said, “I thought it would be a good idea, to pump myself up, to play pickleball before this interview, but basically I’m about to fall asleep in your lap.”

The last post within Perry’s Instagram account shows a picture of him in his hot tub overlooking the Pacific Palisades at night:

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A post shared by Matthew Perry (@mattyperry4)

Almost exactly a year before his death, Perry was on with Stephen Colbert and talked about his troubled past and why he wrote about it publicly:

My life has had so many highs and so many lows … My life had gone to such low degrees with addiction that the lower the scale I go, the more helpful I can be to other people who have gone so low.

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A post shared by The Late Show (@colbertlateshow)

Perry had a long history of alcohol and opioid use. He had been to rehab over a dozen times, and he even had to undergo over a dozen surgeries because of damage to his stomach lining because of his heavy alcohol and drug use.

In the same NY Times article noted above, the ‘Friends’ star said that he believes he had probably spent $9 million trying to get sober.

In 2018, Perry almost died when his colon burst from opioid abuse.

Perry was laid to rest on Friday, November 3, in a small, private service.

Perry’s house in the Pacific Palisades has stunning views of the ocean and was where he had been spending time prior to his death. Here he is inside with his dad:

It’s easy to see why Perry chose to spend time at his Palisades house. Below are images from Zillow of his home there.

Matthew Perry was not married and did not have any children. It has been reported that he had generated as much as $20 million per year in royalties from the hit show ‘Friends’. Any additional royalties, his Pacific Palisades home, and all of his other assets will likely go to his parents, according to Yahoo, and then to his half-siblings.