The recent indictment associated with the untimely passing of renowned actor Matthew Perry shed light on the shadowy networks circulating within the entertainment industry. Erik Fleming, once a promising manager in Hollywood, found his career waning amidst the narcotics trade by the mid-2010s. Text exchanges involving Fleming have revealed Jasveen Sangha, a 41-year-old dubbed as the ‘ketamine queen’, an individual who allegedly ran a stash house in North Hollywood. Fleming’s colloquial tag for Sangha encapsulates the dark undercurrents entwined with the entertainment industry, as depicted in testimonies and media reports.
In the discerning perspective of Ashley Conner, a Santa Monica-based psychologist specializing in addiction, the circumstances around Perry’s demise are achingly common within the intersection of celebrity and substance abuse. Her comprehension of the situation elucidates the unique susceptibility of fame, shading insights into the concerns celebrities harbor regarding trustworthiness in their circles. It is these apprehensions that typically lead them to establish a closely-knit network.
Legacies crafted through influential works, such as Perry’s performance in Friends, generate a gravitational pull for those lingering on the peripheries of Hollywood. The enthralling glamour associated with stardom frequently instigates a form of mutual dependence with this peripheral circle, fostering an unhealthy co-dependency, Conner suggests.
In the realm of showbusiness since nearly 30 years, Kenneth Iwamasa, a 59-year-old professional aide hailing from Midland, Michigan, has lent his skills to the entertainment industry. He was associated in several roles with Doug Chapin, a producer and manager of Perry. Eventually, Iwamasa found himself as the live-in helper for Perry, with photographers capturing the two on a shopping spree at The Grove’s Nike store last year.
Court filings paint a bleak portrayal of the circle encompassing Perry, featuring Iwamasa and four other defendants. Iwamasa, Fleming, and one medical practitioner have come forward with admissions of guilt for varying drug-linked charges. However, Sangha, along with another doctor, have declared their innocence. In the dying days of his employer’s life, according to court records, Iwamasa acquired ketamine worth roughly $55,000 for Perry.
Court reports unveil candid text messages traded between the two doctors, with one doctor questioning the monetary extent that their ‘dupe’ was willing to pay for their services.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Brooke Mueller, an ex-Hollywood actor and former spouse of Charlie Sheen, willingly supplied detectives with significant information implicating both Sangha and Fleming to the criminal investigations. Mueller, similar to Perry, has faced her struggles with addiction amidst prying tabloid headlines.
Known to Mueller for a time, Fleming has shadowed her continually throughout her career, Courtney Friel, an anchor at KTLA and a once close acquaintance of Mueller, recalled.
Fleming’s confession confirms that he and Perry shared a mutual friend who, during Perry’s final month, broached the subject of Perry’s interest in ketamine. The person behind this introduction, however, wasn’t identified.
In 1999, Fleming made his directing debut in ‘My Brother the Pig’, featuring a young Scarlett Johansson. He later partnered with Sydney Holland, one of Sumner Redstone’s live-in girlfriends enmeshed in a protracted money-related dispute with the late media tycoon, to co-run a fledgling production company. As reported by Hollywood Reporter, Fleming embarked on a different career trail in the recent past, leading a drug rehabilitation center in Bel-Air where, in 2021, an unfortunate event culminated in the overdose and death of Mueller’s boyfriend. According to the rehab center’s attorney, that day Fleming was absent from the facility.
A significant incidence that preceded Perry’s passing was an extensive search operation conducted at Sangha’s place as part of an unrelated drug case. This operation netted 79 containers of ketamine, around 2,000 grams of Xanax, and a gun under her boyfriend’s name. Sangha has entered a not guilty plea in this case; her mother posted her $100,000 bond in March.
Sangha’s life garnered media curiosity recently, propelled by her social activities etched on Instagram. The intriguing question posed by the Daily Mail last week centered around the journey of Sangha, born into a respectable British Sikh family and a daughter of a physician, into the cloudy depths associated with the tragic demise of a globally renowned television actor.
Sangha’s flamboyant lifestyle choices were prominently displayed on social media, yet they didn’t particularly stand out from those of her counterparts. The circle she moved in was framed by individuals who had their respective nuanced relationships with the world of showbiz.
Adding a touch of glamour to her life, Sangha vacationed in Mexico with French erotica filmmaker Greg Lansky, known for his self-touted aesthetic innuendos and unexpectedly attracting plaudits from Kanye West. Moreover, Slash’s former spouse, Perla Hudson, immortalized a wholesome moment with Sangha on a beach in July 2021, adoringly referring to her friend as her ‘Mary’ and ‘truly a gift to all of us’.