The tragic tale of Matthew Perry just took a darker turn. A new documentary is spilling tea hotter than Central Perk’s espresso machine, claiming that the beloved Friends star was given a whopping 27 ketamine shots in the weeks leading up to his untimely death.
For those who aren’t exactly chemists or ravers, ketamine is the stuff they use to knock out horses, or, apparently, Hollywood stars struggling with addiction.
The doc claims Perry, who spent years battling substance abuse, was being treated with this controversial therapy as part of an experimental detox program. So it seems injecting Chandler Bing seemed like a good idea.
Addiction isn’t a sitcom. It doesn’t wrap up neatly in 22 minutes with a laugh track and a heartfelt hug. Perry himself admitted he’d been fighting demons most people wouldn’t wish on their worst enemy.
Hell, if half the things in his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing are true, the man survived enough trauma to make even Phoebe Buffay cry.
Ketamine treatments are still widely debated in medical circles. Some swear by them; others think they’re about as safe as Ross’s decision to name his son after a soap opera character.
And while we don’t know all the details yet, giving anyone, even a former sitcom god, a literal cocktail of horse drugs feels less like science and more like a plot twist from Grey’s Anatomy.
In the end, Matthew Perry’s story reminds us that fame doesn’t shield you from pain; it amplifies it. And while we’ll always cherish his sarcastic quips and preppy sweaters, his legacy now serves as a sobering reminder that even the brightest stars can burn out when the system fails them.