Matthew Perry's Sisters Break Silence on Assistant's Role in Actor's Death

Nearly two years after Matthew Perry’s shocking death, a fresh layer of devastation has emerged from those closest to him. In victim impact statements filed on Wednesday, May 20, Perry’s sisters Caitlin and Madeline Morrison have detailed the betrayal they felt upon learning exactly what his live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa did in the hours before the Friends star died at age 54.

The facts are stark: Iwamasa, 60, injected Perry repeatedly with ketamine despite having no medical training. More painfully, he then left the actor in a hot tub — alone and vulnerable — where the ketamine proved lethal. The discovery that someone Perry considered family was responsible for those final moments has compounded the family’s grief in ways that are difficult to articulate. Madeline, 37, wrote in her statement that learning the truth felt as though her brother was dying all over again. Everything the family believed about October 28, 2023, everything Iwamasa had told them, was a fabrication.

Caitlin, 43, offered a different but equally cutting perspective. She acknowledged she’ll never know if the lethal dose was intentional or catastrophically reckless. But she was clear on one point: when Iwamasa left the house that day, he was either running from something he knew he had done, or he was abandoning a person in danger. Either way, the choice reveals a profound moral failure.

Iwamasa is one of five people who pleaded guilty in connection with supplying Perry the drug that killed him. Jasveen Sangha, known as the Ketamine Queen, pleaded guilty to three counts of distribution and one count related to death or serious bodily injury. Erik Fleming pleaded guilty to distribution resulting in death. Doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez also entered guilty pleas. Four of the five have already been sentenced to prison time and home confinement. Iwamasa’s sentencing was scheduled for later in May.

What emerges from Caitlin and Madeline’s statements is the particular sting of caretaker betrayal — the way trust placed in someone entrusted with your brother’s most vulnerable moments was weaponized, whether intentionally or through gross negligence. The legal system may determine culpability. The family has already rendered their judgment.