Matthew Perry Shared Reason Behind Julia Roberts Split in ’90s


Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts.
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Getting candid concerning the previous. Matthew Perry revealed the heartbreaking motive he determined to finish his relationship with Julia Roberts following her 1996 cameo on Pals.

“Julia had been provided the post-Tremendous Bowl episode in season 2 and he or she would solely do the present if she could possibly be in my story line,” the 17 Once more star, 53, wrote in his memoir, Pals, Lovers and the Huge Horrible Factor, in keeping with an excerpt revealed by the U.Okay. paper The Occasions on Saturday, October 22. “Let me say that once more — she would solely do the present if she could possibly be in my story line. (Was I having a great 12 months or what?) However first, I needed to woo her.”

Perry despatched the Fairly Lady star, 54, three dozen roses together with a observe expressing his pleasure about the potential for her showing on the sitcom. “Her reply was that if I adequately defined quantum physics to her, she’d comply with be on the present,” he recalled within the ebook, earlier than explaining that he started studying the whole lot he might about quantum mechanics. “The next day, I despatched her a paper all about wave-particle duality and the uncertainty precept and entanglement, and solely a few of it was metaphorical.”

He continued: “Not solely did Julia comply with do the present, however she additionally despatched me a present: bagels — heaps and plenty of bagels. … I did let her in, each figuratively and actually, and a relationship started. We might already be a pair by the point we began filming the Pals Tremendous Bowl episode.”

Nonetheless, after simply two months, Perry determined to finish his relationship with the Oscar winner as a consequence of his insecurities. “Relationship Julia Roberts had been an excessive amount of for me. I had been continually sure that she was going to interrupt up with me,” the Studio 30 on the Sundown Strip alum wrote. “Why would she not? I used to be not sufficient; I might by no means be sufficient; I used to be damaged, bent, unlovable. So as a substitute of dealing with the inevitable agony of dropping her, I broke up with the attractive and sensible Julia Roberts.”

Including that he felt that Roberts was certain she was “slumming it” with him, the West Wing alum stated, “I can’t start to explain the look of confusion on her face.”

Perry has lengthy been open about his decades-long wrestle with dependancy, which nearly derailed his profession. “On the time I ought to have been the toast of the city,” the actor — who starred on the sitcom from 1994 till 2004— defined in a teaser for his upcoming sit-down interview with Diane Sawyer. “I used to be in a darkish room assembly nothing however drug sellers and utterly alone.” He went to rehab twice throughout Pals‘ run, in 1997 and in 2001.

Along with affecting his temporary romance with the Erin Brockovich star, Perry’s dependancy additionally took an enormous toll on his bodily well being.

“I’ve in all probability spent $9 million or one thing attempting to get sober,” he advised the New York Occasions on Sunday, October 23. The Massachusetts native, started ingesting at age 14 and finally started utilizing benzodiazepines and opioids, together with Vicodin, Xanax and OxyContin, was hospitalized in 2018 as a consequence of his dependancy.

He suffered from pneumonia and an exploded colon, which finally resulted in him spending two weeks in a coma and residing with a colostomy bag for 9 months. The sickness required greater than a dozen abdomen surgical procedures to correctly heal.

“It’s a hideous illness, and he has a tricky model of it. What’s not altering is his will to maintain going, hold preventing and hold residing,” his Pals costar, Lisa Kudrow, advised the outlet. “I like Matthew rather a lot. We’re a part of a household. I’m mainly ending this with ‘I’ll be there for you’ [the Friends theme song], nevertheless it’s true. I’ll at all times be there for him.”

In the event you or anybody you understand is dealing with substance abuse points, name the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 at no cost and confidential data 24/7.