'Uncomfortable, Melancholy and Plagued by Fame': Secrets of Tortured Matthew Perry's Failed Rehab Meetings Revealed

Matthew Perry's fame kept him from connecting with his peers in recovery support groups as the Friends star faced his brutal drug addiction alone.

RadarOnline.com can reveal the late actor appeared "melancholy" and "sat by himself quietly in the back", according to a former addict who was at several of these meetings.

Nick Matthews was able to overcome his drug dependency thanks largely to the support he got from fellow patients in treatment. He went on to join the cause by running his own rehab centers, and has remained sober since 2013.

But Perry's experience was starkly different. While he checked into 15 rehab centers over 30 years and celebrated brief stints of sobriety, the sitcom star struggled to stay substance-free for most of his adult life.

The actor sealed his fate when he turned to controversial ketamine therapy to treat his depression and anxiety. Within weeks of picking up the habit, he became hopelessly hooked and died from a ketamine overdose at the age of 54 on October 28, 2023.

Matthews, who used to see the actor at group meetings in West Hollywood, was interviewed for the recently released documentary TMZ Investigates: Matthew Perry & The Secret Celebrity Drug Ring.

He recalled: "I would just see (Perry) sitting by himself quietly in the back, while we’re all having meaningful connection with one another", adding the actor appeared "melancholy" and like he was "not feeling comfortable with the same vulnerability that I had".

As the CEO of addiction treatment centers in Montecito, California, and Miami, Florida – two areas crawling with celebrities – Matthews has witnessed, first-hand, how fame can thwart the recovery process.

He explained: "It's difficult to exist like that, where everybody knows who you are just at a glance."

Matthews said it was "very, very clear" Perry "had a circle of enablers", noting: "that's always going to be true when you're at that level of celebrity.

"You have a group of people around you, yes men, enablers that just get things done for you. And you could see that."

Five people – including trusted doctors and Perry's live-in personal assistant – were arrested this year after prosecutors said they "took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves."

One of the defendants, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, was giving Perry above-board ketamine treatments before he began selling the actor doses illegally, according to the indictment.

As Perry's addiction spiraled, Plasencia allegedly wrote in a text message: "I wonder how much this moron will pay."

The indictment, unsealed in August, charged another doctor, Mark Chavez, with giving Plasencia the illicit doses. In less than two months, the pair allegedly charged the actor $55,000 for 20 vials of ketamine.

But when Perry sought even more, he directed his assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, to purchase the liquid drug from street dealers, prosecutor said.

At his boss' direction, Iwamasa spent $11,000 on 50 vials from "ketamine queen" Jasveen Sangha and her middle-man, Erik Fleming, according to the indictment. The assistant also allegedly admitted to injecting the actor with the fatal dose.

The indictment reads: "Using the Plasencia-provided instructions and syringes, Iwamasa injected Perry with the ketamine that was sold to him by Fleming and Sangha, including on October 28, 2023, when Perry died at his Pacific Palisades home after receiving multiple ketamine injections.

"Plasencia sold the ketamine to Iwamasa despite being informed at least one week earlier that Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiraling out of control."

Iwamasa, Sangha and Fleming were charged alongside Plasencia and Chavez with drug-related offenses in connection to Perry's death. Their cases are ongoing.

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