Julia Roberts has spoken publicly for the first time about her former boyfriend Matthew Perry, following his death in October.
Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on Friends, was found dead in his hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28. He was 54 years old. A private funeral service was held on November 3.
Roberts was in a three-month relationship with Perry in the 1990s, and in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, she said that she had “all good thoughts and feelings” towards him.
“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,” the actress said.
Roberts appeared on Friends in the 1996 episode ‘The One After the Superbowl, Part 2’, and she has also been reflecting on that experience.
“They were all so welcoming to me as just a kind of one-off character and it was a really fun time.”
Last month, Perry’s close friend said that he was feeling “happy” and “proud” prior to his death, especially taking pride from how many people had been touched by his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing.
In the book, Perry wrote about his relationship with Roberts, saying: “Three or four times a day I would sit by my fax machine and watch the piece of paper slowly revealing her next missive.”
“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.”
Following news of his passing, Perry’s Friends co-stars Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow shared touching individual tributes to the late actor on their respective Instagram pages.
The cast are also reportedly “planning a special reunion” to honour their late co-star at the upcoming Emmy Awards ceremony.
Perry’s official death certificate stated that his cause of death was still “deferred” following inconclusive initial autopsy results.
The toxicology report confirmed earlier that Perry’s death was not caused by a methamphetamine or fentanyl overdose.