Julia Roberts says the death of Matthew Perry is “heartbreaking” as he died too young. Perry died on Oct 28 aged 54 from an apparent drowning in the jacuzzi at his home in Los Angeles
The Pretty Woman actress, 56, briefly dated the Friends star around the time she appeared in an episode of the hit sitcom titled The One After The Superbowl, in 1996. She had agreed to appear on the show if she could be part of one of Perry’s storylines.
Roberts told Entertainment Tonight about Perry’s shock death: “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.”
Perry’s cause of death has been “deferred” following an initial autopsy and a toxicology report is pending.
Roberts’ cameo on Friends saw her play a childhood friend of Perry’s who gets revenge on him for an old prank by stealing his trousers. She said about her time on the hit sitcom: “They were all so welcoming to me as just a kind of one-off character and it was a really fun time.”
Roberts added she only has “all good thoughts and feelings” about her time on Friends.
Perry wrote about his regret at not being handle a relationship with Roberts in his tell-all 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing.
He said he felt like the “king of the world” alongside the Hollywood A-lister, but confessed his battles with addiction held him back from continuing their relationship.
Perry wrote in his autobiography: “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. So instead of facing the inevitable agony of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts.”
He added that he convinced himself Roberts was “slumming it” with him, adding, “I can’t begin to describe the look of confusion on her face.”
Roberts went on to marry cameraman Danny Moder, 54, with whom she shares three children, while Perry’s other exes included actresses Lizzy Caplan, 41, and 56-year-old Lauren Graham.