Why did Matthew Perry die?: New documentary "A Hollywood Tragedy" seeks answers

It seems almost unbelievable: Matthew Perry (1969-2023) has been gone for around a year and a half now. On October 28, 2023, the "Friends" star died at the age of just 54 from the "acute effects of ketamine," as the autopsy report later stated. A new Peacock documentary called "Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy," which has been showing in the US since last Tuesday, attempts the difficult task of providing reasons for the tragedy. Was Perry's death even inevitable?

Director Robert Palumbo begins his documentary in the star's early childhood. After his parents' divorce, the young Perry repeatedly flew alone from Canada, where his mother worked, to Los Angeles. There, his father worked as a model and actor and introduced him to the world of glamour, but also of temptation.

The documentary suggests that this was where the foundation was laid for the lifelong loneliness that Perry allegedly felt - and which may have led to his severe drug and alcohol addiction and ultimately to his tragic death.

A lifelong conflict?

To underline this observation, this part of the documentary was accompanied by a voice-over by Perry reading from his tell-all book "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," which was published in 2022.

Even when the actor rose to worldwide fame as part of the "Friends" series, he was always at odds with himself. According to one of the statements in the documentary, Perry was a prime example of how even all the money in the world doesn't necessarily make you happy. Instead, Perry increasingly tried to achieve this with the drug ketamine, which ultimately cost him his life.

A "Friends" star has a brief say

His five co-stars from the sitcom "Friends" only have their say in the documentary via archive footage. Only one actress from the series agreed to speak about Matthew Perry's death in the Peacock production: Morgan Fairchild (75), who played the mother of Perry's character Chandler Bing. She asserts: "I tried to reach out to him a little and let him know that I was there for him."

Towards the end of the approximately one-hour film, there is a preview of the upcoming court cases in which several people will have to answer for Perry's death. The documentary uses alleged text messages from the defendants to prove that they viewed Perry as a "naive victim" who could be used to make easy money.

According to USA Today, Perry's former assistant Kenneth Iwamasa will be awaiting his verdict in May of this year, and his doctor Mark Chavez will be next in line in September. Both have already pleaded guilty. The trials of other people are still pending.

It is not yet known whether the documentation will one day be made available in Germany.

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