"It's Sunday, I don't move on Sundays!" boomed Chandler Bing's (Matthew Perry) voice once from Apartment 19 in the iconic FRIENDS building.
And it was precisely on a solemn Sunday morning that news channels and tabloids reported the death of the beloved FRIENDS star Matthew Perry who died on the previous night - October 28, 2023. It was perhaps his FRIENDS alter ego's rudest death joke.
What seemed like the closing of a rather turbulent chapter in the life of the funniest man in sitcoms and his perpetual battle with addiction and alcoholism held far more truth than was initially apparent on that fateful night.
Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy is, in conventional terms, a documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the FRIENDS star. The truth behind his death elevates the documentary to a whole new level. It instils rage in scores of fans who loved Matthew Perry and deem the cause of his death completely undeserving.
Director Robert Palumbo paints a rather gory picture of Matthew Perry's struggles with addiction, the friends who stood by him, the backstabbers who preyed on his vulnerability, and the "Big Terrible Thing" - as the actor himself called the beast AKA drugs. And then, an illicit ketamine drug racket that killed him.
From Hollywood professionals and medical experts to dear friends, the 1-hour documentary is a crisp assemblage showing how Matthew Perry remained in darkness despite being surrounded by flashy arc lights.
As per the toxicology reports, the actor was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles residence, drowned due to a severe overdose of ketamine.
A pertinent line at the beginning of the documentary questions - with the gradual unravelling of the case - "Matthew Perry's death: intentional, overdose, suicide, accident?"
The director cleverly swaps between various timelines: one that highlights the troubled childhood lived by the FRIENDS actor; he got his first taste of alcohol at the age of 16 which made him gawk at a starlit sky and believe that the pain emanating from his body was how "normal people" felt; and how the only way for him to feel "normal" was to have another drink.
In his autobiography, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry begins with a thunderclap statement, "Hi, my name is Matthew Perry, though you may know me by another name - my friends call me Matty, and I should be dead." If only one reads between the lines, there was truth aplenty.
Several old clips of the whole FRIENDS cast featuring Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc, alongside Matthew Perry, who were also great friends off camera and continue to be so - showcase the lovely camaraderie they shared. It's a rather bittersweet moment for any fan of the popular sitcom. And Matthew Perry's struggle-being in and out of medical units, going on a range of detox programmes and failing every time before resurrecting again - pained them as much as it did him.
Rage doubles when the documentary pans its focus to the sinister 'planning' behind Matthew Perry's death from a ketamine overdose, carried out by none other than his inner circle. Recordings of law enforcement reveal key information about how the actor's personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who also lived with him, acquired large amounts of the drug by paying huge sums to Dr Mark Chavez and Dr Salvador Plasencia.
The documentary unearths key aspects of the dreadful case, where Kenneth had injected Matthew Perry with several doses of ketamine on the day he died before going on errands - only to return and find the actor dead in the hot tub.
To understand the gravity of what an unmonitored dose of a drug like ketamine could do to someone already suffering from addiction, the director brought David Feifel, MD, PhD, Founder and Director of Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute, to share insights about the drug.
The documentary educates its viewers about the popular street drug of the 80s-ketamine-as Matthew Perry's voice booms in the background, describing how consuming it felt like "being hit by a happy shovel".
Used to treat depression and anxiety, ketamine was during one of his many detox expeditions in Switzerland that Matthew Perry was first introduced to ketamine - and that was the beginning of yet another battle.
Old interview clips are juxtaposed between the solving of the case and how ketamine made him quickly fall back into addiction. This led to various unprescribed ways of acquiring it - as doctors would not do so beyond a certain dosage - and the actor meeting criminals like Dr Mark Chavez and Dr Salvador Plasencia, whose avaricious nature made them exploit his condition.
A US district document shared in the documentary states an insensitive remark where Plasencia tells Chavez, "Let's see how much this moron will pay. Let's find out." Though the doctors used the encrypted app Signal for their conversations, law enforcement was way ahead, which is how the proof was unearthed.
In the documentary, Matthew Perry's friends and confidantes express sheer shock at the amount of disdain and disrespect meted out to him. A clear picture emerges of how this was all done for a lump-sum extortion of money by the doctors. Chavez demanded $2,000 for one vial when it cost him just $12. Plasencia cracked a deal of 20 vials for $55,000 a month.
One's blood boils when the clip emerges of one of the doctors giving Matthew Perry a shot of ketamine on the backseat of a car in a parking lot. As he freezes and spirals, the doctor teaches the assistant how to administer it.
At the point when Matthew Perry's need for the life-threatening drug surpassed what the physicians could offer, Iwamasa contacted Erik Fleming, a former TV and film director with connections to LA's drug underworld. Fleming told his assistant in a message that it could be arranged from Jasveen Sangha, known as the "Ketamine Queen", who had amazing stuff. It was she who supplied the drug that killed him - 50 vials over two weeks for $11,000.
Just three days before his death, on October 28, Matthew Perry had received 27 shots of ketamine.
On August 15, 2024, five arrests were announced by the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.
What seems like justice being served prompts the director to update that Kenneth Iwamasa, Dr Chavez, and Erik Fleming each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. Jasveen Sangha was charged with multiple offences, including one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine, though her lawyer called all these accusations "garbage". However, between October 2024 and December 2025, the other two, Dr Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha, also pleaded guilty.
What holds viewers captive is how ruthless fame can be. Matthew Perry, loved by millions, but not by his own. Between fleeting smiles, the documentary takes us into the world of Matthew Perry, who fought some brave battles and lost others. Peace, perhaps, came only in death.
The documentary is available to stream on Discovery+ from January 2, 2026.
Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy is the closure that every fan deserves.
-
Matthew Perry, Katy Forrester, Martin Estrada
