Matthew Perry’s mum pens gut-wrenching letter admitting 'closure doesn't exist'
Topics: Celebrity, Matthew Perry, Parenting
Madison Burgess
Featured Image Credit: Vince Bucci/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Matthew Perry, Parenting
Matthew Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, has hit out at his former assistant in a heartbreaking victim impact statement following the star’s tragic death aged just 54.
The Friends actor, who portrayed Chandler Bing for all 10 seasons of the 1990s show, was tragically found dead in his hot tub in October 2023, with his cause of death determined to be ‘acute effects of ketamine’.
His former assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, is facing up to 15 years in prison after being accused of ‘repeatedly’ injecting the actor with ketamine ‘without medical training’.
He has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and is scheduled to be sentenced on 27 May.
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Ahead of the sentencing, Perry’s mum provided a victim impact statement, which has been obtained by TMZ and PEOPLE Magazine.
Speaking about the family’s relationship with Iwamasa, Morrison wrote: “He had known Kenny, and so had we, for 25 years. Mathew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny. Kenny’s most important job – by far – was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction.”
She urged: “His number one responsibility – ensure that Matthew remained what he wanted to be: drug-free.
“Kenny knew, should he feel unduly pressured, that with one phone call to any number of the people in Matthew’s orbit, reinforcements would be on the way, and his job would be safe.”
She wrote that instead of protecting him, he ‘aided and abetted’ his drug addiction and ‘arranged for one source of supply, then another. Shot the drugs into Matthew’s body, though he was not in the least qualified’.
“He did it even though he could see, anyone could have seen, it was so obviously dangerous. And he did it again and again,” she added.
Morrison claimed: “And when he had killed my son, he kept a sharp eye on me. He sent me songs, he drew a little map to help me find my way around the cemetery. We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”
She said that the former assistant ‘insisted’ on speaking at Perry's funeral and clung to her ‘as if he was somehow the good guy who tried to save Matthew’.
“Nothing takes this pain away, nor will it, I am sure, for as long as a live,” she heartbreakingly quipped.
Morrison also emotionally wrote that Perry was her ‘heart and soul’ as she paid tribute in the devastating letter.
She thanked investigators ‘for their relentless determination to dig out the truth about Kenny’, but added that ‘closure’ is a thing that ‘doesn't exist’.
Detailing her son’s tragic death, she wrote: “And then one night he was just a body, lying all but naked on the cold, damp grass of his backyard.
“Helicopters circled overhead, eager for a glimpse of my dead little boy, a picture they could show the whole world while I stood out on the street in the cold and begged for a blanket to cover him. Impossible, of course.”
Morrison harrowingly added: “Ask any mother whose child has been torn away so mercilessly. Nothing takes this pain away, nor will it, I am sure, for as long as [I] live.”
Four other people have also been charged in connection with the case - doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, drug dealer Jasveen Sangha, and Perry's acquaintance Erik Fleming.
Sangha, also known as the 'Ketamine Queen,' was handed a 15-year jail sentence last month, after she admitted she provided the actor with 50 vials of ketamine before his death, with Fleming acting as a middleman.
In December last year, Plasencia was jailed for two-and-a-half years for illegally supplying ketamine to the actor in the weeks before his death.
Meanwhile, Chavez, was sentenced to eight months home confinement after he admitted selling ketamine to Plasencia.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.