Lauren Graham shared insight into her relationship with Matthew Perry.

Known for Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, actress Lauren Graham is reflecting on her enduring friendship with the late actor Matthew Perry. The New York Times bestselling author, who is currently on a book tour for Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember, has been rumored to be romantically involved with the Friends star during the early 2000s.

Matthew Perry in Friends
The alleged relationship, however, did not last long. Speaking at a Q&A event at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C., the 57-year-old actress opened up about her bond with Perry, who passed away on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54.

Lauren Graham Addressed Her Rumored Relationship with Matthew Perry

The beloved Friends star, Matthew Perry, tragically passed away on October 28, 2023, due to complications from ketamine use, resulting in accidental drowning in a hot tub. His longtime friend and former co-star Lauren Graham recently expressed her deep sorrow over his loss.

Lauren Graham (Image via Wikimedia Commons)
“It’s still really hard to believe,” she said as she called his death “a terrible loss.” The actress, who was also rumored to be in a relationship with the Mr. Sunshine star, described him as a significant presence in her life. However, she suggested that they were never in an official relationship.

“While he was not technically ever a boyfriend, he was an almost in my life,” she said, as per Deadline. She also shared that the late actor would often reconnect with her and that they had been in contact prior to his passing in 2023.

A still from Friends
“We would stretch for a year, then he would come back in my life,” she said before adding, “and he had just come back in my life last year.” She also shared that Perry, who was “really into tennis and pickleball,” gifted her a pickleball set for her birthday, with a message card that said, “Be older.”

The Evan Almighty actress has earlier shared that nobody had ever made her laugh as much as Perry did, as she reflected on the unparalleled joy Perry brought into her life.

Lauren Graham Recalled Matthew Perry’s Joy After Memoir Release

Matthew Perry opened up about his journey of sobriety and his prolonged battle with alcoholism and addiction in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. And during an appearance on CBS Morning, Graham recalled Perry’s pride and joy over the success of his memoir.

The Odd Couple (2015)
She shared that he was “proud” of the book’s impact, noting that it brought him a level of happiness she hadn’t seen in him for a long time. She recalled,

“And I’ll say too, that this last year, he was so proud of the book he wrote and of how many people it touched—And 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 Odd Couple actress has also shared that Perry’s happiness was not solely derived from the book’s success, but also from his altruistic intention to share his personal struggles, hoping to offer solace to others facing similar challenges.