The ex-girlfriend and former assistant of Friends star Matthew Perry has revealed the reason why she decided to leave the role.
Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the long-running sitcom, passed away in October 2023 after being found unresponsive at his home.
It was later revealed by an autopsy report that the actor had died from the 'acute effects of ketamine' and drowning at age 54.
A series of arrests have since been made as a joint criminal investigation from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) into his death continues.
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Perry's ex-girlfriend-turned-assistant Kayti Edwards has now opened up on her working relationship with the actor in an interview with The US Mirror, revealing the heartbreaking reason why she had to stop working as his personal assistant.
Edwards had briefly dated Perry back in 2006 and remained amicable with him in the years following.
She would later go on to work as his assistant in 2011.
Explaining that Perry had paid her 'very well' during her time as his assistant, she could not continue in the role after witnessing his troubles with addiction first-hand.
"Matthew paid me very well as his assistant but there came a point for me that he got so bad that I had no choice but to walk away from that salary," she said.
"But I knew that I could not watch him die. I would never, ever be able to live with myself."
Edwards went on to recall several 'sleepless nights' where she would wake up in the middle of the night to text the actor and make sure he was still alive.
"I couldn't sleep at night knowing what he was doing. And I think part of me stayed as long as I did, because if I didn't stay, he would have been alone, and he would have just kept going," she added.
The breaking point for Edwards came in January 2011, when she told him: "'I'm not doing this anymore, Matthew, I am sorry you were going to hate me, but we are getting you in a rehab'."
Perry had always been open about his struggles with addiction in the past, revealing that he wasn't able to watch Friends back during a promotional interview for his memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir.
"I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, 'Drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine'," he said in an interview with CBC.
"I could tell season by season by how I looked. And I don’t think anybody else can, but I certainly could.
"That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see. That’s what I noticed when I watched it."
Topics: Matthew Perry, US News
Brenna Cooper