Julia Roberts Breaks Her Silence On Matthew Perry's Death

Julia Roberts is commenting on her ex-boyfriend Matthew Perry's death, and keeping his memory alive at the same time.

According to reports, the actress honored the late actor with subtle references in her latest Hollywood project. Although she did not spell out how these references would occur, Roberts expressed her heartbreak at the beloved "Friends" star's passing and even talked about the life lessons she had learned from the event recently. 

Roberts got an opportunity to reflect on her short-lived relationship with Perry, who was found unresponsive in his hot tub on October 28, during a recent interview. Kicking off the conversation, the "Mystic Pizza" actress spoke about her brief stint on "Friends" as the late actor's character, Chandler Bing's childhood classmate.

After admitting that she only has "all good thoughts and feelings" about her appearance on the long-running NBC sitcom, she expressed of the show's stars, "They were all so welcoming to me as just a kind of a one-off character, and it was a really fun time."

She then touched on the death of her former boyfriend, stating, "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."

Besides learning these lessons from Perry's death, Roberts will also be honoring his memory in her new film, "Leave the World Behind," by subtly including "Friends" in it. As Mahershala Ali, who also stars in the apocalyptic thriller, shared with ET:

"It's beautiful he could sort of be honored in that way. Or the show sort of be honored, coincidentally, at this time. So it's kinda nice that it has a little space in there." 

It is worth noting that before his death, Perry had disclosed a "three-month-long courtship" with Roberts, coinciding with her appearance on the "Friends" episode "The One After the Super Bowl" in 1996. 

According to his memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," their relationship began when the 56-year-old was mulling over her guest role on "Friends." He recounted in the book:

"I sent her three dozen red roses, and the card read, 'The only thing more exciting than the prospect of you doing the show is that I finally have an excuse to send you flowers.'" 

He detailed being so excited at exchanging letters with the Academy Awards winner that he "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."

The "Ally McBeal" star pointed out by the time the episode she appeared in was filmed, they were already romantically involved. On the decline if their romance, he penned:

"Two months later, I was single. 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."

As it turned out, Perry's decision to end things with Roberts was fueled by the pressures of dating a Hollywood A-lister. 

"Instead of facing the inevitable agony of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts. She might have considered herself slumming it with a TV guy, and the TV guy was now breaking up with her. I can't begin to describe the look of confusion on her face," he divulged.

Besides the "Pretty Woman" star, Perry had also fallen for his co-star, Jennifer Aniston, who played the role of Rachel Green in the multiple award-winning series.

He unveiled his admiration for the Golden Globe recipient in his memoir, claiming that he was attracted to her when they first met, but his feelings were not returned. 

Mutual friends had connected the two superstars three years before their "Friends" collaboration, with Perry revealing that, at the time, he had reached out to the Los Angeles native to share the news of securing two acting jobs in one day. 

"'You're the first person I wanted to tell this to.' Bad idea. I could feel ice forming through the phone," the "Almost Heroes" actor conveyed.

The blast of cold air did nothing to dissuade Perry, though, as he ended up asking her out. On that, he reflected, "She declined (which made it very difficult to actually go out with her) but said that she'd love to be friends with me."