Charges filed against Matthew Perry's mother in Friends Star's death, final days

Matthew Perry's family remembers the deceased Friends star and looks at the criminal trial of two of the people charged in connection with his death.

In an interview that aired on the Today Show on Monday, the first anniversary of Perry's death at age 54 from the acute effects of ketamine, Perry's mother Suzanne Morrison, his stepfather Dateline Correspondent Keith Morrison and three of his sisters – Caitlin, Emily and Madeline Morrison – looked back on Perry's final days and shared what they will remember about their late family member.

Suzanne recalled that shortly before Perry's death, she felt that “what was going to happen next to him was inevitable, and he felt it very strongly.”

“Interestingly, he went through a period right before he died when he showed me one of his new houses,” she told NBC News' Savannah Guthrie. “He came up to me and said, 'I love you so much and I'm so happy to be with you now.' And I'm like…' It was almost like it was a premonition or something. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I thought, ‘How long has it been since we last had a conversation like this?’ It’s been years.”

In the days before his death, Perry told his mother, “I'm not scared anymore,” she recalled, adding that that “worried” her.

Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home and the actor, who had spoken extensively about his struggles with addiction over the years, had said a year earlier in conjunction with the release of his memoirs that he was sober and seemed committed to staying clean.

Even after his death, those who knew him said he was still sober.

But in the Monday interview with TodayKeith wondered whether Perry was still sober or, as prosecutors allege, had become addicted to ketamine.

Asked if they thought Perry was still sober and “on his way” when he died, Keith said: “It seemed to us like he was,” while Suzanne shook her head.

“Not for you?” he said to her. “It certainly seemed that way to me.”

Keith continued: “Although he had been treated with ketamine, it had not become something he could not control. Even though he was a guy who made decisions: “I can handle this, I can do this, I can tell you what's right.” I know the whole system inside and out. I know what the drug will do to me.' So there was the worry: What is he really doing?”

And Perry's sister Madeline noted: “I don't even know if he had relapsed in his mind.”

Now, a year after Perry's death, five people have been indicted and charged as part of an investigation into the actor's fate that uncovered a “broad underground criminal network.”

Three of them have reached plea agreements and are cooperating with prosecutors, while two of the defendants, Dr. Salvador Plasencia and an alleged dealer Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen,” are scheduled to go to trial in early 2025.

Suzanne said she was “thrilled” by the allegations and Keith hopes the legal action will have an impact.

“What I hope, and I think the authorities who got involved in this hope, is that people who have made it their mission to supply people with drugs that kill them will now be put on notice,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what professional qualifications you have. You’re going down, baby.”

Keith also hopes Perry's experience will be a lesson.

“What he taught the world is that no amount of money can cure an addict. It needs something different,” he said. That’s what we’re trying to do (with the foundation).”

Perry's family also spoke about the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada, which was founded after the actor's death in his home country and is separate from the U.S. Matthew Perry Foundation, but both organizations have similar intentions.

Writing in his memoirs, Perry spoke in the final years of his life about his efforts to help other addicts and how he hoped he would be remembered that way.

“He made it a big focus of his life to help other people and encourage other people to say, 'I need help.' He tried to make people realize that this was a brave thing to do,” said Caitlin, who serves as executive director of the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada.

And Suzanne embraces her own limitations when it comes to helping her son.

“I am a very happy woman. But there was a mistake, there was a problem that I couldn't solve – I couldn't solve it. I couldn’t help him,” she said.

Speaking about her support for the foundation, she added: “The one thing I have to learn – and this is very hard – is that you have to stop blaming yourself.” Because you don't understand what your child or your husband or your wife is going through. And you have to stop because it’s tearing you apart.”

Perry's family spoke about how they sometimes still talk to him or feel the need to contact him, even a year after his death.

And his mother said fans continue to visit his grave and leave letters about the “incredible” influence he had on them.

“Whenever I’m there, people come to see him – even now. It usually wears off,” she said. “They leave him really nice letters. For example: “I was so sad. 'You helped me get through my teenage years.'”

“Maybe I’ll post them at some point so people can see,” she said of the notes. “But they really loved him because they could identify with him.”