Did Matthew Perry Have a Wife? His Ex Breaks Her Silence On His Death
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After the sudden passing of the Friends star, many fans might be wondering if Matthew Perry had a wife. The Fools Rush In actor was very vocal in his trials and tribulations in love throughout his career. However, he was single at the time of his death.
Perry—who died at the age of 54 on October 28, 2023—had spoken candidly about his love life in the years before his passing. Reflecting on his past relationships, the actor confessed in an interview with GQ ahead of the release of his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, that most of his relationships didn’t work out due to his struggles with addiction.
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“I break up with them because I’m deathly afraid that they will find out that I’m not enough, that I don’t matter, and that I’m too needy, and they’ll break up with me and that will annihilate me and I’ll have to take drugs and that will kill me,” the Friends star told the publication. “That’s why I break up with these wonderful women that have crossed my path.”
Perry, who was 53 at the time of his interview with GQ, admitted there were at least 10 women “on the face of the planet” who he would “kill to be married to.” But they have all since moved on, gotten married and started families of their own.
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“And you’re not supposed to look in the rearview mirror because then you’ll crash your car,” he told the publication. “But I looked in the rearview mirror and I was like, they’re all gone. They’re all happy, which is great, but I’m the one who’s sitting in a screening room by myself. And there’s no lonelier moment than that.”
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’ by Matthew Perry
Perry also shared that he was dumped only once in his life—and the experience was enough to make him spiral for years. “I lit candles in my house and drank and drank and drank over that, for about two years,” he said.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available. Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support.
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Read more ahead about whether Matthew Perry had a wife or was engaged by the time of his death.
Molly Hurwitz (2018 – 2020)
Matthew Perry was engaged to Molly Hurwitz, a literary agent who he started dating in 2018.
Their relationship was the closest Perry got to marriage. He proposed to her in November 2020, telling People at the time, “I decided to get engaged. Luckily, I happened to be dating the greatest woman on the face of the planet at this time.”
The pair kept a low-profile during their engagement, although Hurwitz shared a heartfelt tribute on her private Instagram page in honor of Valentine’s Day in 2020. “Second year being my valentine, but his first as an Instagram influencer,” she wrote, referencing the Friends star’s sudden following after joining the social media platform earlier that month. “HVD to my favorite.”
Six months later, the actor popped the question while at rehab facility in Switzerland. However, they ultimately called it quits by June 2021. “Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them,” Perry said in a statement following their split. “I wish Molly the best.”
Breaking her silence on Perry’s untimely death, Molly reflected on their relationship in a tribute shared on Instagram. “He would love that the world is talking about how talented he was. And he really was very talented. As the Friends reunion was approaching, we rewatched the show together. “Fuck, I was so good!!!…See what I did there???” We rewound and studied scenes. Our respect and appreciation of humor is something that connected us.
Being with him as he rediscovered his brilliance was magical. But, I obviously knew that man in a very different way, too. While I loved him deeper than I could comprehend, he was complicated, and he caused pain like I’d never known. No one in my adult life has had a more profound impact on me than Matthew Langford Perry. I have tremendous gratitude for that, for everything I learned from our relationship.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Al Anon, an invaluable resource for those who love someone struggling with this destructive disease. Matty, I feel relief that you are at peace. Sincerely, Moll-o-Rama(…fication)”
Lizzy Caplan (2006 – 2012)
Perry’s longest relationship was with Mean Girls actress Lizzy Caplan. The pair were together for six years and called it quits in 2012. In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry revealed that he almost proposed to Caplan and regretted that things ended instead.
“For Christmas, I’d paid a huge amount of money for an artist to paint the two of us,” he wrote of his planned proposal. “My plan was to give her the painting and then ask the question…well, I never asked it. […] And it was time, all I had to do was say, ‘Honey, I love you. Will you…’ But I didn’t say it. All my fears reared up like a snake.”
Perry mused about what their relationship could have been if he went through with the proposal. “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.”
Rachel Dunn (2003 – 2005)
Matthew Perry was in a relationship with athlete Rachel Dunn from 2003 to 2005.
He gushed about his relationship with The Evening Standard and contemplated with settling down with her. “With Rachel in my life, I know that I can be very committed and not some selfish guy who just wants to hang out with friends. I want to spend time with my girlfriend and explore what it means to have a much closer relationship than I’ve previously had time for,” he said.
However, the two called it quits in 2003 with a source close to the couple telling People: ‘There was no drama involved (in the breakup), just a commitment by Matthew to stay focused on his sobriety.’
Julia Roberts (1996)
Matthew Perry’s most high-profile relationship was with Julia Roberts. The pair dated for a few months in 1996 and were already a couple by the time she appeared as a guest star on season 2 of Friends. Perry also wrote about his relationship with Roberts in his memoir, recalling his decision to end things. “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,” he wrote. “So instead of facing the inevitable agony of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts.”
He wondered, “She might have considered herself slumming it with a TV guy, and TV guy was now breaking up with her. I can’t begin to describe the look of confusion on her face.” He died on her birthday on October 28, 2023.
Gwyneth Paltrow (1994)
Matthew Perry had a brief fling with Gwyneth Paltrow in 1994. He wrote about their “make-out session in a closet” the summer before Friends was broadcast
When the topic arose during an interview with GQ, Perry was hopeful about her reaction. “Hopefully, she’ll find it to be a cute story,” he said. “It’d be bad if Gwyneth Paltrow hated me; I wouldn’t like that.”
Gwyneth took to Instagram to react to his death. She wrote, “I met Matthew Perry in 1993 at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. We were both there for most of the summer doing plays. He was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with. We drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in the local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass. It was a magical summer. He had shot the pilot of Friends but it had not aired yet. He was nervous, hoping his big break was just around the corner. It was. We stayed friends for a while until we drifted apart, but I was always happy to see him when I did. I am super sad today, as so many of us are. I hope Matthew is at peace at long last. I really do.”
Jamie Tarses
Matthew Perry dated Jamie Tarses who helped develop Friends. The two met in 1994 and Perry wrote that she was “the most magical, beautiful, and smart” woman. He added that she was there for him during his substance abuse struggles, which in part led to his decision to end things.
“I need time to process being sober,” Perry recalled telling her at the time of their breakup. “In order to adequately pay sweet Jamie back for two years of giving up huge portions of her own very busy and important life by basically being my nurse, I ended our relationship.”
Gabrielle Allan (1990)
Matthew Perry dated Veep producer Gabrielle Allan in 1990. He wrote of the experience, “Love of alcohol had indeed become the helmsman of my life, but I don’t think I realized just how much it controlled me until one night when I was out with my girlfriend at the time, Gaby,” he writes, adding that she would “go on to write for Veep and a bunch of other stuff and be a friend for life.”
He wrote about when he “first felt the obsession for alcohol” after the then-couple went to a magic show. “Gaby didn’t have any alcohol at home, which is, of course, totally fine, but for me at the age of twenty-one, all of a sudden this creeping feeling came over me for the first time. I felt my blood on fire for more to drink.”
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