Matthew Perry's Tragic Final Secret: How Regret Over Splitting From the Girlfriend He Included in His Will 'Sent Him Spiraling Into Fatal Drug Addiction'
Aug. 26 2024, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
Matthew Perry was haunted by regret over lost love until the day he overdosed on the ketamine he was using to numb his pain, according to one of his former flames.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the late actor supposedly never stopped pining after his ex-girlfriend Rachel Dunn, who he viewed as "the love of his life" and even included in his will.
The pair dated for two years before breaking up in 2005 as Perry finally faced his severe opioid addiction. In his memoir, the Friends star called Dunn, who was 14 years his junior, "the ex-girlfriend of his dream(s)".
Katyi Edwards — who dated Perry in 2006 and worked as his assistant in 2001 — opened up about the actor's major love life "regret" in the wake of the criminal charges filed over his death.
Perry was profoundly impacted by his split from Dunn, and the heartbreak contributed to his addiction struggles, Edwards told The Mirror US.
She said Perry, who was abusing prescription pills like Vicodin, "was not doing drugs when he was with (Dunn)."
Edwards claimed Dunn "was the love of his life," adding: "If you look back at Matthew, you know, he was happy, content".
She explained: "I think she kept him grounded. But it seems like after he broke up with her, that’s when I noticed the, you know, addiction in full-gear.
"Afterwards, he lived with a lot of regret. Their love was very simple...and she loved him before he was huge and he just spiraled afterwards."
Edwards went on: "And they say everybody has a kind of trigger or turning point in their addiction where you just didn't care anymore? And I'm pretty sure that breakup kind of started it.
"I think that he regrets not marrying her...I know that he wanted kids, and I think that he struggled with time flying by. He hadn't tackled some milestones that he wanted to."
Throughout his Hollywood career, Perry was romantically linked to several A-listers, including Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz. But Kayti suggested his time with Dunn stood out as special.
Perry "had relationships after (Dunn)", Edwards said, "but never did show off his girlfriends like he did her."
She added: “He loved her so much...she was his one and only girl. I don't know what happened and why they broke up, but I know that he was the happiest with her."
As RadarOnline.com reported, the 54-year-old named Dunn as one of the beneficiaries of a will he drafted in 2009. Perry's net worth was estimated at nearly $1.6million when he died at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
Dunn reportedly met Perry while studying fashion and has kept a low profile since splitting from the actor.
The sitcom star said in a 2004 interview: "With Rachel in my life, I know that I can be very committed and not some selfish guy who just wants to hang out with friends.
"I want to spend time with my girlfriend and explore what it means to have a much closer relationship than I've previously had time for."
Exactly a year before his death, Perry told Diane Sawyer he was taking as many as 55 pills a day at the height of his opioid addiction. The tell-all interview came after the actor announced on his book tour that he was celebrating 18 months of sobriety.
He turned to ketamine therapy to treat his depression, but the habit quickly spiraled out of control in the weeks leading up to his overdose as he began buying the drug illegally. Perry's autopsy report said the amount of ketamine in his system when he died was equivalent to a surgical dose of anesthesia.
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