Friends star Matthew Perry's tragic last words revealed: “Give me a big shot”

Matthew Perry's last words were instructions to his live-in assistant – one of five people charged in connection with the actor's ketamine death last year – to administer the drug to which he had become addicted.

The 54-year-old Friends The star, who was found dead in his hot tub last October “from the acute effects of ketamine,” told Kenneth Iwamasa to give him “a big dose” in his final hours, according to court documents obtained by NBC News this week.

Iwamasa, 59, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. Authorities said he admitted to repeatedly injecting the actor with ketamine in the weeks before his death, despite having no medical training. He also did so several times on the day of Perry's death.

On October 28, Iwamasa allegedly injected Perry with the dissociative anesthetic three times – at 8:30 a.m., again at 12:45 p.m. and “approximately 40 minutes later,” according to details in Iwamasa's agreement.

“Victim MP [Matthew Perry] asked the defendant to prepare the hot tub for the victim MP and told the defendant, 'Give me a big syringe,' referring to another syringe of ketamine,” the document reads.

Iwamasa then left the house to run errands and returned to find the actor lying face down in the hot tub.

Perry, who spoke openly about his lifelong struggle with substance abuse, was considered sober at the time of his death but was undergoing doctor-supervised ketamine infusion therapy to treat anxiety and depression.

However, a toxicology report released in December concluded that the fatal dose of ketamine “could not have come from this infusion therapy” because Perry's last known session had been a week and a half before his death. The drug has a half-life of four hours or less.

Earlier this week, a source close to Perry told Us Weekly that his friends and family were “surprised” and “sad” to learn of Iwamasa's involvement in his death.

According to the insider, Iwamasa became Perry's assistant around June 2022, at a time when things were “already chaotic.”

“Matthew wasn't really sober. He was sober in and out. And several people were taking care of him,” the source said.

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Fans in China mourn the death of Friends star Matthew Perry

Fans in China mourn the death of Friends star Matthew Perry

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced Thursday that Iwamasa had been charged in Perry's death along with four others – Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Dr. Mark Chavez, drug dealer Jasveen Sangha (better known as “The Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles”) and director and producer Erik Fleming, who acted as a broker for Sangha.

Perry used Iwamasa as a middleman, paying Plasencia at least $55,000 in the month before his death, according to Iwamasa's confession. He also allegedly paid Fleming an estimated $12,000 for two drug deals with Sangha – including one just days before his death that produced the ketamine that killed Perry.

Plasencia, who allegedly gave Iwamasa instructions on how to inject the drug, pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to one count of the same charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in a federal prison.

Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.

Sangha, who authorities say is linked to a previous fatal overdose, faces nine charges in connection with Perry's death, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine. She pleaded not guilty Thursday.