EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Perry was living in $49k-a-month Beverly Hills rental with assistant Kenny Iwamasa – leading friends to believe HE found actor’s body in hot tub after moving back to renovated home
Late Friends actor Matthew Perry lived in a Beverly Hills hideaway with his Japanese assistant until just a couple of weeks before his untimely death, DailyMail.com can reveal.
And it is that 59-year-old man who, sources close to the star believe, may have been the person who discovered Perry’s lifeless body in the hot tub at his newly refurbished house on October 28.
The actor had been renting the three-bed hillside home overlooking Beverly Hills and the ocean for $49,000 per month for more than a year while his $6million Pacific Palisades house was undergoing renovation.
He was living in the rental with Kenny Iwamasa, an executive assistant whose LinkedIn page says he has helped manage Perry’s affairs for more than 25 years.
Matthew Perry had a live-in assistant and caretaker, 59-year-old Kenny Iwamasa (pictured together in August) who is believed to have discovered him in his hot tub last month
DailyMail.com can reveal the Friends star and Iwamasa had been living in a $49,000-a-month Beverly Hills property for a little over a year while his Pacific Palisades pad underwent renovations
Perry had recently moved back into his newly refurbished home and was enjoying his hot tub when he died suddenly on October 28
The house’s landlord, John Malakzad, identified Iwamasa as ‘an individual living with Perry and monitoring him’.
Iwamasa did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Iwamasa had been pictured driving Perry, 54, around Los Angeles on errands and emerging from the Beverly Hills home in the morning, photographs exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com reveal.
The Friends actor had moved back in to enjoy his refurbished Pacific Palisades house less than a month before he was found dead, by a ‘personal assistant’.
As his live-in PA, Iwamasa is believed to be the one to find his body.
Perry had another assistant, Briana Brancato, who had worked for the Odd Couple actor for seven years.
But Brancato 34, left to become a personal trainer just a few months ago.
A rental listing for the Beverly Hills property was removed in June 2022, likely when Perry started living there. The actor had been spotted at the home regularly since October 2022.
Now the home stands empty, and last week trash cans outside were filled with mattresses and cushions as it is being cleared out for another tenant.
Malakzad, who never personally met Perry, said he was a good tenant who moved out ‘a couple of weeks ago’.
Neighbors on the street, Chalette Drive, weren’t aware Perry had been living there, though they sometimes saw his staff including a housekeeper and assistant come and go.
Earlier this year in February, Perry was spotted outside the Beverly Hills property as he had furniture delivered to the secret hideaway
The actor had been spotted at the home regularly since October 2022
Now the home stands empty, and on Wednesday trash cans outside were filled with mattresses and cushions as the home is cleared out for another tenant
Aerial images show Perry’s pool and the hot tub at his $6million Pacific Palisades home where he was found dead late last month aged 54
The rented house has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, and is 6,305 sq ft according to its listing on property site Zillow.
Its bright, living space had varnished floors and floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that opened up onto a backyard with a pool and view that a neighbor told DailyMail.com was ‘one of the best in the city’.
Iwamasa, says on his LinkedIn page that he works as an ‘executive assistant’ employed by Perry’s manager Doug Chapin.
According to his LinkedIn account, Iwamasa had helped handle Perry’s affairs for more than 25 years
Among his roles he lists: ‘Executive Assistant to personal manager responsibilities for 25 years (on-going) for client Matthew Perry (‘Friends’; actor-writer-producer).’
‘I thrive in chaotic situations which call for order,’ he adds. ‘I am discreet, loyal and honor absolute confidentiality.
‘I love deadlines, contracts, dotting i’s and solving puzzling situations and projects.’
Just two months before his unexpected death, and days after his 54th birthday, Perry and Iwamasa had been seen shopping together at The Grove in LA, DailyMail.com reported at the time.
One of Iwamasa’s family members who lives in Los Angeles confirmed to DailyMail.com that the assistant had been living with Perry in recent months, though the relative had not spoken to Iwamasa since the actor’s death.
In Perry’s last post on Instagram he was pictured making the most of the hot tub that overlooks his coastal neighborhood during a moonlit night on October 23, five days before his death.
‘Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good?’ he captioned the post.
A source told People Magazine lastweek that Perry called his new home ‘heaven’ and ‘was incredibly happy’ after completing the work on the house.
Just two months before his shock passing and a few days after his 54th birthday, Perry and Iwamasa were seen shopping at the Nike store at The Grove in LA
Perry also had another assistant, Briana Brancato, 34, pictured together in an Instagram photo. He never named her in his memoir, only describing her under the pseudonym ‘Erin’
The actor’s family told the magazine: ‘We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother. Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend. You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.’
Last week Perry’s friend, former Miss Teen USA Athenna Crosby told DailyMail.com that he had been healthy and in good spirits in the days before his death.
Crosby, who was the woman photographed having lunch with the actor at the Hotel Bel-Air a day earlier said: ‘I don’t think he had any desire to get back into drugs and alcohol.
‘I think he was so proud to finally be over that hump because he openly struggled with addiction for decades, and he was in and out of rehab as recently as the last couple of years.
‘He was relieved that he finally felt it was behind him, and he was trying to do everything to fight that.
‘While we were having lunch, he refused to touch the drink menu. He was saying that he’s gotten really into fitness and pickleball and he wants to get all his friends into it.
‘I think he was really serious about revamping himself into a whole new man.’
Other family friends reported that he seemed ‘fatigued’ in the days before his death.
The document also lists Perry’s industry as ‘Entertainment’ and his stepfather Keith Morrison as the ‘informant’
Model and entertainment reporter Athenna Crosby, 25, had lunch with Matthew Perry the day before he died in Los Angeles
Speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, the glamorous brunette said: ‘I don’t think he had any desire to get back into drugs and alcohol’
He is believed to have drowned, although an official cause of death has not been announced. On Wednesday Perry’s official death certificate was revealed for the first time, but still had his cause of death listed as ‘deferred.’
First responders on the scene revealed that when Perry was found by his assistant, he was underwater. The assistant lifted his head up in a desperate attempt to get him some air.
By the time the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived at his Pacific Palisades home, the actor was already dead, it was later determined.
It comes after a 15-second dispatch call emerged revealing the moment his assistant called 911 to report a possible cardiac arrest.
Perry had been open about his past struggles with alcohol and substance abuse, but said in recent interviews he was clean and sober.
Perry wrote in his memoir, published last year, that he had spent $9million trying to get sober, revealing he had been to 6,000 AA meetings, gone to rehab 15 times, and been in detox 65 times.
First responders reportedly found antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications at the property – but there was no sign of any illegal drugs.
