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 star Matthew Perry lived in a Beverly Hills hideaway with his Japanese assistant until just weeks before his untimely death, DailyMail.com can reveal.

And it’s that 59-year-old man who, according to sources close to the star, may have been the person who discovered Perry’s lifeless body in the hot tub of his newly renovated home on Oct. 28.

The actor had been renting the three-bedroom home on a hill overlooking Beverly Hills and the ocean for $49,000 a month for more than a year while his $6 million Pacific Palisades home was renovated.

He lived in the rental house with Kenny Iwamasa, an executive assistant whose LinkedIn page says he has helped manage Perry’s affairs for more than 25 years.

Landlord John Malakzad identified Iwamasa as “a person who lived with Perry and kept an eye on him.”

Iwamasa did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

Iwamasa was photographed driving Perry, 54, around Los Angeles on errands and leaving the Beverly Hills home in the morning, according to photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

The Friends actor had moved back in to enjoy his renovated home in Pacific Palisades 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 who found his body.

Perry had another assistant, Briana Brancato, who had worked for the Odd Couple actor for seven years.

But Brancato, 34, only left a few months ago to become a personal trainer.

A rental ad for the Beverly Hills property was removed in June 2022, likely when Perry started living there. The actor has been regularly spotted in the house since October 2022.

Now the house is empty and last week the bins outside were filled with mattresses and pillows while it was cleared out for another tenant.

Malakzad, who has never met Perry in person, says he is a good tenant who moved out “a few weeks ago.”

Neighbors on the street, Chalette Drive, did not know Perry lived there, although they sometimes saw his staff, including a housekeeper and an assistant, coming and going.

The rental home has three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms and measures 6,305 square feet, according to the listing on real estate site Zillow.

The bright living space had varnished floors and floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors leading to a backyard with a swimming pool and a 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” for Perry’s manager Doug Chapin.

Among his roles he lists: “Executive Assistant of Personal Manager responsibilities for 25 years (ongoing) for client Matthew Perry (“Friends”; actor-writer-producer).”

“I thrive in chaotic situations that require order,” he adds. ‘I am discreet, loyal and respect absolute confidentiality.

‘I like deadlines, contracts, dotting the i’s and solving puzzling situations and projects.’

Just two months before his unexpected death, and days after his 54th birthday, Perry and Iwamasa were shopping together at The Grove in LA, DailyMail.com reported at the time.

One of Iwamasa’s relatives who lives in Los Angeles confirmed to DailyMail.com that the assistant had been living with Perry in recent months, although the relative had not spoken to Iwamasa since the actor’s death.

In Perry’s final Instagram post, he was pictured making the most of the hot tub that overlooks his coastal neighborhood on a moonlit night on October 23, five days before his death.

“Oh, so the warm water swirling around makes you feel good?” he captioned the post.

A source told People Magazine last week that Perry called his new home “heaven” and was “incredibly happy” after completing work on the house.

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 into the world, both as an actor and as a friend. You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the enormous 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, 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 start using drugs and alcohol again.

“I think he was so proud to finally get over that hurdle, because he had openly struggled with addiction for decades, and he had been in and out of rehab for the last few years.

‘He was relieved to finally feel it was behind him, and he tried to do everything he could to combat that.

‘While we were having lunch he refused to touch the drinks menu. He said he has gotten really into fitness and pickleball and wants to get all his friends involved.

“I think he was really serious about turning himself into a whole new man.”

Other family friends reported that he seemed “fatigued” in the days before his death.

It is believed he drowned, although no official cause of death has been announced.

First responders on the scene revealed that when Perry was found by his assistant, he was underwater. The assistant raised his head in a desperate attempt to give him some air.

By the time the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived at his home in the Pacific Palisades, the actor was already dead, it was later determined.

It comes after a 15-second call emerged showing 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 that he was sober and sober.

Perry wrote in his memoir published last year that he spent $9 million to get sober. He revealed that he had attended 6,000 AA meetings, been to rehab 15 times and been in detox 65 times.

First responders reportedly found antidepressants and anxiety medications inside the property, but there was no sign of illegal drugs.