Matthew Perry’s cause of death is listed as “deferred” pending final toxicology test results – but his body has been released to his family so his funeral can be arranged
- Matthew Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his LA home on Saturday
- The 54-year-old Canadian actor wrote in his memoirs that he spent half his life in rehab
- On Sunday evening, the coroner said his cause of death had been “deferred.”
The Los Angeles County coroner has classified Matthew Perry’s cause of death as “deferred,” pending final toxicology test results.
Perry, 54, was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on Saturday.
On Sunday afternoon, the coroner released his body to the family but said the cause of death had not yet been determined.
The first emergency call from his assistant was that he was in cardiac arrest.
The medical examiner’s office may release initial results within a few days, or it may take six to eight weeks to receive final toxicology test results.
Los Angeles law enforcement sources told TMZ that no illegal drugs were found at his Pacific Palisades home.
Matthew Perry is pictured on October 21 – the last time he was seen in public. His cause of death is being deferred pending toxicology testing
Sources said antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications were found in Perry’s home, including pills for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Perry had long struggled with drugs and alcohol and was also a smoker.
Perry wrote in his memoirs published last year that he spent $9 million trying to get sober, revealing that he attended 6,000 AA meetings, went to rehab 15 times and detoxed 65 times have.
An LAPD source told the New York Post: “We responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd at 4:10 this afternoon for a death investigation of a man.” “He was in his 50s.”
TMZ shared 16 seconds of dispatch audio in which a man says “Save 23” and “Drown.”
Perry had several health problems.
A jet ski accident in 1997 on the set of his film “Fools Rush In” left him hospitalized and later became addicted to the opioid painkiller Vicodin.
He said he took 55 Vicodin tablets once a day and his weight dropped to 128 pounds.
In 2000 he was hospitalized with pancreatitis and in 2018 his colon ruptured.
“The doctors told my family I had a 2% chance of survival,” Perry told Diane Sawyer during a promotional interview for his book.
“I was put on something called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and lungs. And that’s called Hail Mary. Nobody survives this.’
Perry was in a coma for nearly two weeks and in the hospital for five months, then used a colostomy bag for nine months.
He said he overcame the addiction in 2021 and is living a healthier lifestyle.