Was Matthew Perry Married? Inside His Relationships With Molly Hurwitz, Julia Roberts and More

Matthew Perry died at the age of 54 on October 28, 2023. The Friends alum was not married at the time of his death. However, he had a number of relationships with high-profile women throughout his time in the spotlight.

Matthew reflected on many of these relationships in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. His most recent public relationship was with Molly Hurwitz, who he got engaged to in 2020.

Was Matthew Perry Married?

Although Matthew had plenty of public relationships, he was never married. The closest he got was with Molly, who he started dating in 2018. Matthew proposed to the literary manager in November 2020.

The engagement was short lived, though, as Matthew and Molly split in June 2021. “Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them,” Matthew said at the time. “I wish Molly the best.”

Did Matthew Perry Have Kids?

Matthew did not have any children, but he had been open about wanting to start a family. In October 2022, just one year before his death, Matthew revealed that he still had hopes about becoming a father.

“I think I’d be great, I really do,” he told PEOPLE. “I grew up with a lot of little kids around me, and that’s probably why, but I can’t wait.”

Who Did Matthew Perry Date the Longest?

Although Matthew nearly got to the altar with Molly, his longest relationship was actually with Lizzy Caplan. The two dated for six years before their split in 2012.

Matthew opened up about the relationship in his memoir and revealed that he and the Mean Girls alum started as “friends with benefits.” He also hinted that his fears about getting married led to the split.

“All my fears reared up like a snake,” he shared. “I often think if I’d asked [her to marry me], now we’d have two kids and a house. Instead, I’m some schmuck who’s alone in his house at 53.”

Did Matthew Perry and Lauren Graham Date?

Matthew and Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham were believed to be romantically linked in 2003, but the two did not officially confirm their relationship at the time. Years later, the two reunited for the 2015 reboot of The Odd Couple, with Lauren playing Matthew’s character’s ex-wife. During a Q&A about the show, Matthew called Lauren “one of my favortie people.”

“We have great chemistry when working together and it’s fun to work with a close friend,” he added.

Then, in 2016, Lauren finally addressed her “almost” relationship with Matthew in her memoir, Talking as Fast as I Can. She described their first meeting as flirty but claimed that they never went any further with their romance.

“The only bright spot, men-wise, was at an event where I met Matthew Perry," she wrote. "He became my friend who I almost but never exactly dated.”

Lauren reacted to Matthew’s death in November 2023 in an interview on CBS Mornings. She revealed that he led a happy life in the year leading up to his passing.

“This last year, he was so proud of the book he wrote and of how many people it touched,” Lauren said of the actor’s memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. “It was a success that gave him a level of happiness that I hadn’t seen in him for a really long time, so that’s a nice memory.”

The Parenthood star added that she was “still in shock” over Matthew’s death. “I mean, it’s a really tragic loss, and he leaves his beautiful work behind. That’s something to be thankful for, and again, the book really meant something to him, so it was a really happy year for him,” she said.

Lauren concluded, “No one made me laugh as hard. Just tears, streaming. There was just such joy in being around him and being his friend.”

Who Else Did Matthew Perry Date?

One of Matthew’s most high-profile relationships was with Julia Roberts. They dated for a couple months in 1996 after Julia signed up to guest star on an episode of Friends. Matthew recalled the actress wanting to be part of his storyline on the show.

“Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me,” he admitted. “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, unloveable.”

Matthew’s book also documented the time he was “set up” with Cameron Diaz after her split from Justin Timberlake in 2007, as well as his “make out session in a closet” with Gwyneth Paltrow in 1994. He revealed that he secretly made out with Valerie Bertinelli, too, but they never officially dated.

In the late 1980s, Matthew dated Carrie Fisher’s half-sister, Tricia Fisher, for a few months. They reconnected “while Friends was at its peak,” the actor wrote. “She didn’t abandon me, but old fears crept up, and I ended the relationship,” he explained.

Matthew’s other exes include Gabrielle Allan, Jamie Tarses, Rachel Dunn and Natasha Wagner.