Matthew Perry's Manager Quit Hollywood As Actor's Death Was His 'Final Straw'

Matthew Perry's sudden death in October last year reportedly led to the retirement of his long-time manager, Doug Chapin, with an insider citing the emotional toll of his client's death as the reason for his exit.

Multiple individuals have been arrested in connection with the actor's death, including two doctors and his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who admitted to procuring and injecting Perry with Ketamine.

Doug Chapin reportedly believed Matthew Perry was winning his battle with substance abuse and addiction; if not, he "would have stepped in and done something."

According to the Daily Mail, Perry's death forced Chapin into retirement after he was left to sort out the "Friends" star's burial procession, eulogy, and body disposal.

Chapin's screenwriter client, Kate Lanier, made the revelation in an interview with the news outlet, explaining that the 74-year-old film producer was "devastated" by Perry's death and that it was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for him.

"He was done with Hollywood. After Matty died, Doug said to me, 'I'm done taking care of people in their careers.' He and his husband went traveling to Portugal and Spain and got completely out of the Hollywood scene," Lanier said.

"I think that Matty's death really impacted him. When you are close to an addict, there's a point when you go: 'I'm done. I can't help this person. They're on the road to kill themselves,'" she continued. "So I think his death was Doug's final straw of not wanting to do this work anymore."

Perry was found face down in the Jacuzzi of his Pacific Palisades mansion on October 28, but an inquiry into the cause of his death suggested that things didn't naturally occur.

Autopsy reports have since revealed that he died from the effect of Ketamine overdose and drowning. However, his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, alongside Erik Fleming, Dr. Mark Chavez, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, and Jasveen Sangha,  have been charged in connection with the late actor's death.

According to Page Six, Iwamasa pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, stating in his plea agreement that he injected the late actor with "significant quantities of ketamine," totaling around "6-8 shots per day," in the days leading up to his death.

Elsewhere in her chat with the Daily Mail, Lanier, who now works as a writing coach and is presenting her new short movie, "Lucky," at film festivals, shared that she believed the 59-year-old meant no harm to the late actor.

"It's tricky, I'm of two minds," she said. "There's so much new information that's been coming out about ketamine, LSD, and mushrooms, that it's helpful or not helpful. I can see how easy it would be to get confused about are you being helpful or are you harming someone."

"I can see how he got that confused in the whole situation of getting ketamine and thinking 'I'm helping him, maybe this is a healing thing.' I don't see him intentionally doing anything harmful," she noted.

Lanier went further to explain that Iwamasa was one of Chapin's salaried employees and would usually help him and his clients run errands. When the Hollywood manager started toning down his operation in 2022, Iwamasa had to rely on his employment with Perry.

Reacting to the news of Iwamasa's involvement, Lanier said, "I was really shocked. Kenny has always been someone who has gone the extra mile to be helpful. Like 'if you want a hotdog from this place I'll go get it for you.'"

The screenwriter also explained that Chapin thought Perry was getting over his addiction problems and would have seemingly done more to help if he'd known better.

"He'd written this book, he'd been on the circuit talking about how he can help people. So I think it was probably a shock to everyone that he had hidden this other addiction," she said.

"As far as Doug Chapin is concerned, he is the most ethical, conscientious manager. If he had known this was going down, he would have stepped in and done something. He is a very ethical guy. I don't think anyone knew," Lanier noted.

Perry detailed his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," writing that he almost lost his life and that "the doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live."

"I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that's called a Hail Mary. No one survives that," he recalled.

As for what led to his decision to stop taking drugs, Perry recounted a conversation with his therapist, who told him, "The next time you think about taking Oxycontin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life."

"And a little window opened and I crawled through it and I no longer want Oxycontin anymore," Perry shared.