Keith Morrison opens up about stepson Matthew Perry’s health problems and drug struggles

Dateline star Keith Morrison has opened up about the death of his stepson Matthew Perryincluding details on how the Friends actor in the weeks before his death and the impact his death had on his family.

In an interview with CBC Q with Tom PowerMorrison said, “Ask any parent who has lost a child. To me it’s one thing: I’m his stepdad and we were close, but I’m the stepdad. I’m not his mother. Ask any mother what it’s like to lose a child. It doesn’t matter if he’s five or 55.”

Perry died on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54, and in December 2023 an autopsy report revealed his death ruled that it was an accidental overdose caused by acute effects of ketamine. Perry wrote the memoir a year before his death Friends, lovers and the big terriblewhich details his lifelong battle with addiction.

“A few months before (the book) he could barely walk from his house to his car,” Morrison recalls. ‘The idea that he could actually write a book was wild – and yet he did. And that helped keep it clean, I think. I really believed that this time it would work. But then again, this is the drug addict who understands everything about drugs.”

Morrison described Perry as a “world-class expert on drugs” before explaining how, after sobering up, the actor decided to undergo ketamine infusion therapy to help treat his depression and anxiety.

“He repeatedly told us how effective it was at wiping away any depression,” Morrison said. “His mother was very suspicious about that. She didn’t think ketamine was a good idea, but he kept saying… ‘It’s not addictive. That’s the beauty of this medicine. It’s revolutionary. It will eradicate depression.” But his addictive personality was so strong that, you know, when the treatment stopped, he couldn’t do that anymore.”

Morrison noted that even though Perry wanted to get better, his fame and fortune made it easy to get anything he wanted. “He was in a hospital or a drug rehabilitation center somewhere and there was a girl from outside who ran off to get some medicine and secretly brought it to him,” he explained. “He tried to have some opioids sent to him at a major hospital in New York while he was being treated for drug addiction.”

However, Perry’s death came as a shock to many, as Morrison put it: “As Matthew himself said a number of times in the last few years of his life, ‘If I die suddenly, people will be shocked, possibly, but not surprised.’ .’”

In August, five people were arrested in connection with Perry’s death, including his longtime assistant and doctors. The Ministry of Justice announced this that their investigation uncovered a “broad underground criminal network” that showed those arrested “took advantage” of Perry by selling him ketamine.

Morrison, a veteran crime reporter, told CBC he is intimately familiar with these types of cases and the anger they cause.

“I’ve sat in front of probably literally thousands of people over the years who have felt that very anger,” he explained. “So I think my perspective is a little bit different. Suzanne (Perry’s mother) is furious, especially at the people who were trusted more than anyone else. I’m just really sad and not surprised. The venality of some of these professionals is just… it still shocks me.”

Morrison also addressed Perry’s relationship with his mother, saying, “He and his mother were as close as any two people I knew… obviously loved each other very deeply.” But you know, when they fought, they fought intensely.”

The Canadian journalist told how Perry and Suzanne spent a day together just a few days before he died. “She said it was one of the best days they had had together in a long time, and he seemed very happy,” Morrison said. “(He) actually said to her… he’s not afraid to die anymore. I think he related that to the fact that he could put everything in the book and tell people about it (his addiction problems). It was no longer a shameful secret.”

After Perry’s death, his family established two new foundations in his name, including the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canadawhich was launched on Thursday evening (October 24). They have also established a similar foundation in the US with the aim of helping people recovering from addiction.

“(We work with) some great people, offering addiction treatment options and ideas that go above and beyond anything (Matthew) could find to help him,” Morrison said. “Even though he had, you know, endless money to deal with the problem, there wasn’t the kind of treatment that would solve it for him or help him solve it for good.”

Perry’s younger sister, Caitlin Morrison, is executive director of the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada, which she says makes her feel closer to her brother.

“(I feel) like I’m sitting next to Matthew and working with him every day on something that was important to him,” Caitlin said HELLO! Canada. “I have the treasure of being able to keep him very, very close to my life all the time, which is wonderful.”

In her biography on the foundation’s website, Caitlin wrote that she “will always see herself as Matthew’s little sister – a wide-eyed girl who thought (still thinks) her brother was the coolest human being to ever exist.”

She added, “The best thing he ever taught her is that no matter how many times you fail, you haven’t failed until you stop trying.”