Julia Roberts Speaks About Matthew Perry for the First Time Since His Passing

Julia Roberts is opening up for the first time.

For those unaware, Roberts and Matthew Perry dated in the late 90s. Roberts also guest starred in Perry’s hit show Friends.

Now she’s talking about her brief time dating Perry, working with him, and how she feels following his unexpected passing at just 54 years old. While talking with Entertainment Tonight, Roberts said she has “all good thoughts and feelings” about her time on the set of Friends.

“They were all so welcoming to me as just a kind of a one-off character and it was a really fun time,” she continued. “The sudden passing of anybody so young is heartbreaking. I think that you know, it just helps all of us just appreciate what we have and to keep going in a positive way as best we can.”

While Roberts didn’t go into detail about their time as a couple, Perry did in his memoir. In the book, Perry wrote that he courted Roberts before she even accepted the role on Friends.

“I sent her three dozen red roses and the card read: ‘The only thing more exciting than the prospect of you doing the show is that I finally have an excuse to send you flowers,’” he wrote in his book, admitting he fell for Roberts fast.

“Three or four times a day I would sit by my fax machine and watch the piece of paper slowly revealing her next missive,” he wrote. “I was so excited that some nights I would find myself out at some party sharing a flirtatious exchange with an attractive woman and cut the conversation short so I could race home and see if a new fax had arrived.”

“It was like she was placed on this planet to make the world smile, and now, in particular, me. I was grinning like some 15-year-old on his first date.”

By the time Roberts agreed to take the role, Perry and Roberts were in a relationship. Sadly, the relationship didn’t last long. 

Perry admitted in the book that “dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me. I had been constantly certain that she was going to break up with me. Why would she not? I was not enough; I could never be enough; I was broken, bent, unlovable.” 

As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Perry was discovered unconscious in his hot tub on October 28. He was just 54 years old.

While his cause of death has yet to be revealed, pending the results of several more tests, the beloved actor has been laid to rest. The ceremony reportedly took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.