Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts only dated for a brief time, but their breakup was a topic in the late Friends star’s 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. To find out why Matthew and Julia split, keep reading.
How Long Were Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts Together?
Matthew and Julia began their relationship in 1995 after she was offered a small part in season 2 of Friends. However, it took some convincing from Matthew for Julia to appear on the show, he noted in his book.
“Julia had been offered the post-Super Bowl episode in season 2, and she would only do the show if she could be in my story line,” he wrote. “Let me say that again — she would only do the show if she could be in my story line. (Was I having a good year or what?) But first, I had to woo her.”
The 17 Again actor chose to “woo” the Pretty Woman actress by sending her roses along with a letter about how excited he was for her to appear on the sit-com. But Julia wrote back that she would only “agree to be on the show” if he could explain “quantum physics to her.”
“The following day, I sent her a paper all about wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle and entanglement, and only some of it was metaphorical,” Matthew gushed in his memoir, adding that he and Julia later had a “three-month courtship” via fax letters only.
Since the Mirror, Mirror star was working on a film in France at the time, the Odd Couple alum would anxiously await every one of her faxes to come through, he noted in his book.
“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 revealed. “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. Nine times out of ten, one had.”
After only a few months of dating, the low-key couple broke up in 1996.
Why Did Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts Break Up?
Matthew admitted that he was the one who ended things with Julia in his memoir. As for his reason why, the Whole Nine Yards actor explained that he didn’t want to get his heart broken by her, and so, he chose to make the move first.
“Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me. I had been constantly certain that she was going to break up with me,” Matthew confessed. “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.”
After telling her he wanted to call it quits, Matthew wrote that Julia looked perplexed at the news, writing in his memoir, “I can’t begin to describe the look of confusion on her face.”
Did Julia Roberts React to Matthew Perry’s Memoir?
The Eat, Pray, Love star has not publicly reacted to Matthew’s revelations about their relationship. She has also not addressed his untimely death. Reports surfaced in 2022, though, claiming that Julia felt “embarrassed” after Matthew released his book.