Matthew Perry described ketamine as ‘being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel’ before his death from the drug

A year before he was found dead, Matthew Perry detailed his experience with ketamine in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”

The late “Friends” star, who underwent ketamine therapy to help treat his depression, described the anesthetic in his book, saying the drug felt like “being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel.”

“Ketamine felt like a giant exhale. They’d bring me into a room, sit me down, put headphones on me so I would listen to music, blindfold me, and put an IV in,” Perry wrote.

Matthew Perry, pictured above on April 22, 2023, detailed his experience with ketamine in his 2022 memoir, writing the drug felt like “being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel.” Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
“[It] has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty,’” he said in his book, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” TheImageDirect.com

The actor recalled being a fan of ketamine as he became more accustomed to its hallucinogenic effects.

“[It] has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty,’” he wrote, adding that he would often “disassociate” and “see things.”

“I’d been in therapy for so long that I wasn’t even freaked out by this. Oh, there’s a horse over there? Fine — might as well be,” he continued.

“As the music played and the K ran through me, it all became about the ego, and the death of the ego.”

Perry underwent ketamine therapy to treat his depression. AP
“I’d been in therapy for so long that I wasn’t even freaked out by this. Oh, there’s a horse over there? Fine — might as well be,” he wrote. Picture Perfect/Shutterstock

Perry shared doctors would use a combination of [anxiety medication] Ativan and ketamine during his hour-long therapy sessions.

“I often thought that I was dying during that hour. ‘Oh,’ I thought, ‘this is what happens when you die,’” he wrote.

“Yet I would continually sign up for this s–t because it was something different, and anything different is good.”

Perry also recalled often feeling like he was “dying” during his sessions, but continued taking the drug “because it was something different.” TheImageDirect.com
Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine use,” which caused his drowning on Oct. 28, 2023. FilmMagic

Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine use” which led to his drowning on Oct. 28, 2023.

It was revealed last week that Perry’s longtime assistant, Kenneth “Kenny” Iwamasa, was the person who administered the fatal dose of ketamine that killed him.

Iwamasa “admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training” and administered “multiple injections” on the day of Perry’s death, per the Department of Justice.

Despite previous claims that Perry was sober for years, the actor was reportedly “spiraling” with his addiction shortly before his death. NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Last week, five people, including two doctors, were charged in Perry’s death. Getty Images

On Aug. 7, the former assistant pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. He faces 15 years in prison.

Perry was reportedly “spiraling out of control with his addiction” prior to his death despite previous claims of being sober for years.

US Attorney Martin Estrada charged five people, including two doctors, with Perry’s death after uncovering an illicit drug trade in Hollywood.

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