Matthew Perry ‘Final Straw’ for Manager As He Quits Hollywood, Client Says

Matthew Perry’s manager Doug Chapin has quit Hollywood, with the death of the Friends actor reportedly being the “final straw.”

Chapin had been Perry’s manager for over 30 years. After the actor died last October from a ketamine overdose—an event five people have since been arrested over—Chapin was reportedly left to shoulder all responsibility for managing the death and funeral.

Following Perry’s death, Chapin traveled to Portugal and Spain with his husband.

Screenwriter Kate Lanier, who was a client of Chapin’s, recently told DailyMail.com that Chapin was left to manage Perry’s funeral, eulogy and the body disposal all by himself. The death was, according to Lanier, “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for Chapin.

“Everyone left it up to Doug to do the memorial, write the funeral speech, call the coroner. He did it all,” Lanier said.

“He was done with Hollywood. After Matty died, Doug said to me: ‘I’m done taking care of people in their careers,'” 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.’ So I think his death was Doug’s final straw of not wanting to do this work anymore.”

Newsweek has emailed Kate Lanier for comment.

Newsweek has also reached out to Doug Chapin Management by email and via Facebook.

When speaking to DailyMail.com, Lanier also shared her thoughts on Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenny Iwamasa, who helped Perry buy ketamine and administered the fatal drug dose.

“It’s tricky. I’m of two minds,” said Lanier. “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.'”

On August 7, Iwamasa pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. He also admitted he often injected Perry with ketamine, despite not having a medical license.

Lanier told DailyMail.com that Chapin, who has writing credits on What’s Love Got to Do With It and American Dreamer, believed that Perry was overcoming his addiction and would have certainly intervened if he had known the truth.

“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 said.

Iwamasa was originally a salaried employee of Chapin’s. After Chapin began to wind down his managing business in 2022, Iwamsama, according to Lanier, had to rely increasingly on his work for the Perry as a source of income. In the last few months of Perry’s life, Iwamasa was attending to Perry’s daily needs and driving him around.

Besides Iwamasa, four others have been charged over Perry’s death. They are Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who allegedly sold the ketamine to Perry; Jasveen Sangha, “The Ketamine Queen”; Dr. Mark Chavez, who sold the ketamine to Plascencia; and Erik Fleming, who was an “acquaintance” of the actor.