- The family of late actor Matthew Perry has hit out at his former assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, ahead of his sentencing.
- In a statement submitted to a Los Angeles federal court, Perry’s sisters and mother said Iwamasa betrayed the actor’s trust.
- They accused him of repeatedly injecting him with ketamine in the days leading up to his fatal overd
The family of late actor Matthew Perry has hit out at his former assistant, Kenneth “Kenny” Iwamasa, ahead of his sentencing in connection with the “Friends” star's death in October 2023. In a statement submitted to a Los Angeles federal court, Perry's sisters and mother accused Iwamasa of betraying the actor's trust by repeatedly injecting him with ketamine in the days leading up to his fatal overdose.
“He had injected my brother with a lethal dose of ketamine and left him in a hot tub to die,” Perry's sister, Madeline Morrison, wrote in a statement obtained by Page Six ahead of Wednesday's sentencing hearing.
Madeline said she felt deeply betrayed after learning details surrounding her brother's death, alleging that Iwamasa misled the family about what happened on the day Perry died at his Pacific Palisades home in October 2023.
“It is difficult to put into words the sense of betrayal I felt when I found out what Kenny had done. Everything I believed about the day he died — everything Kenny told us — was a lie,” she wrote, adding, “The idea that someone my brother considered family could betray him in such an unimaginable way is something I never could have conceived.”
She also recalled Iwamasa appearing “manic and unsettled” around the time of Perry's funeral, where he even addressed mourners.
“The person responsible for my brother's death stood up and addressed the people who loved him most,” she added. “That is like a cruel joke I still struggle with. He didn't just take my brother's life — he tainted our final memories of saying goodbye.”
Matthew Perry's Mother and Other Sister's Statement
Perry's other sister, Caitlin Morrison, questioned whether the fatal dose was accidental, writing that she believes Iwamasa either fled the scene knowing what had happened or “willfully abandoned a vulnerable person in a dangerous situation.”
“But I know that when Kenny left the house, he was doing one of two things. He was either escaping from something he knew he had done or he was willfully abandoning a vulnerable person in a dangerous situation,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, Perry's mother, Suzanne Morrison, said Iwamasa's “most important job had been to help protect my son, be his companion and guardian in his long battle with addiction.”
“His number-one responsibility — ensure that Matthew remained what he wanted to be: drug free. And when he had killed my son, he kept a sharp eye on me,” she wrote.
Matthew Perry's Demise
Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends, was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles-area home on October 23, 2023. He was 54. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner later ruled his death was caused by the acute effects of ketamine, as well as drowning and other factors.
Although Perry had legally undergone ketamine infusion therapy for depression, investigators said Iwamasa illegally supplied and administered additional doses without medical training.
Iwamasa was one of five people charged in connection with Perry's death. He, Erik Fleming and Dr. Mark Chavez pleaded guilty, while alleged drug supplier Jasveen Sangha, dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” by prosecutors, and Plasencia faced additional charges tied to the investigation.
Kenneth Iwamasa's sentencing on Wednesday, May 27, in the Los Angeles federal courtroom of Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, marks the latest development in the years-long federal investigation into the circumstances surrounding Perry's death.