Matthew Perry reveals how Jennifer Aniston shot him down and put him in the ‘Friend Zone’
Matthew Perry is on the cusp of dropping a new memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, out via Flatiron Nov 1st. The actor opens up about addiction, and what it was like crushing on his famous co-star, Jennifer Aniston. Sharing ‘I liked her too much or in the wrong kind of way’.
Perry reveals that years before he was cast on the show, he had once asked out Jennifer Aniston but she turned him down, saying she would rather stay friends. And what would you know, the pair did just that for more than ten seasons, going on to co-star in one of the most popular television shows of all time. Friends.
Matthew writes “I was immediately taken by her (how could I not be?) and liked her, and I got the sense she was intrigued, too — maybe it was going to be something. Back then I got two jobs in one day — one was Haywire, an America’s Funniest Home Videos-type show, and the other was a sitcom. So I called Jennifer and I said, ‘You’re the first person I wanted to tell this to!’”
He goes on to share that he probably came across a bit too strongly, as he eventually ended up asking her out, only to get rejected. “Looking back, it was clear that this made her think I liked her too much or in the wrong kind of way… and I only compounded the error by then asking her out. She declined (which made it very difficult to actually go out with her), but said that she’d love to be friends with me, and I compounded the compound by blurting, ‘We can’t be friends!’”
His feelings for Jennifer however, eventually “disappeared in the hot glow of the show”, “That, and her deafening lack of interest,” he shared.
In a recent interview with Diane Sawyer Matthew said that anyone could have a crush on his co-stars Jennifer, Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow. He said, “How can you not have a crush on Jenny, Courtney, and Lisa? So that made it kind of difficult to go to work because I had to pretend that I didn’t have these crushes.”
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is slated for release on November 1 via Flatiron Books.
