Perry’s assistant “brought [Perry’s] head above the water and [had] gotten him to the edge,” the fire department said.
More information has been released Tuesday about the desperate efforts Matthew Perry’s assistant made to save the actor’s life.
The assistant had returned to the Pacific Palisades residence after running errands to find Perry submerged in his hot tub. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, Perry was not in the hot tub for long. His body was not waterlogged, meaning it had not absorbed a lot of water.
Perry’s assistant “brought [Perry’s] head above the water and [had] gotten him to the edge,” the fire department said. An unconscious Perry would have been too heavy for one person to lift out of the hot tub alone.
Firefighters pulled the actor out of the jacuzzi and performed a quick medical assessment to find he was deceased.
The fire department says even though Perry was found in the hot tub, “no determination has been made as to whether he drowned.”
Perry’s assistant has not been named, but former assistant Briana Brancato, who worked for Perry for seven years, paid tribute Tuesday to the beloved actor. She posted photos of them in happier times on social media, writing, “My heart is heavy, but celebrating my memories is the most profound way to honor his legacy. You’ll forever be in my heart. I love you Matty.”
In his memoir, Perry wrote about meeting Brancato, a fitness fanatic, at a rehab center where she was working. “I saw how wonderful she was in every way and promptly stole her from the sober living rehab and made her my assistant, and she became my best friend,” he wrote.
Perry’s memoir has rocketed to the number one spot on the Amazon bestsellers list, knocking Britney Spears’ just-released tell-all out of the top spot.
The actor’s castmates in the hit show “Friends” are speaking out two days after this death. The delay is raising eyebrows.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew,” they said in a joint statement. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss. In time we will say more, as and when we are able.”
Variety magazine TV editor Michael Schneider says the cast of “Friends” were friends in real life, which has made Perry’s death more difficult to process.
“One of the things about the friends cast is that they truly were real-life best friends as well and I think this obviously has hit them super hard and that they’re taking some real time to digest what has happened,” Schneider says.
Jennifer Aniston is reported to be particularly shaken by the sudden death. David Schwimmer was photographed walking in New York wearing a mask and his hat pulled low over his eyes.
Many fans of the show are finding themselves distraught over Perry’s death and finding comfort in the “Friends” theme song, flooding social media with their own versions of the feel-good anthem.
