‘Friends’ Star Calls off Engagement

Matthew Perry and fiancée Molly Hurwitz have decided to split. The Friends star has called off his engagement to the literary manager after popping the question in November 2020, PEOPLE confirmed Tuesday. Perry, 51, and Hurwitz, 29, first began dating in 2018 and got engaged after about two years together before splitting just months later.

“Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them,” Perry said in a statement. “I wish Molly the best.” In November 2020, Perry was similarly brief in his statement to PEOPLE, telling the outlet, “I decided to get engaged. Luckily, I happened to be dating the greatest woman on the face of the planet at this time.”

Perry’s breakup comes on the heels of the much-anticipated Friends reunion on HBO Max, which featured Perry and his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer getting back together for only the second time since the show ended 17 years ago. During the reunion, Perry revealed he suffered intense anxiety while filming the NBC comedy in front of a live audience, which his co-stars didn’t know at the time.

“To me, I felt like I was gonna die if they didn’t laugh,” he said. “It’s not healthy for sure, but I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and just go into convulsions if I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get. I would freak out.” After Perry explained how difficult the performances were, Kudrow responded, “You didn’t tell us that,” to which Perry replied, “Oh yeah, I felt like that every single night.”

Perry has been open with his sobriety journey after struggling with drugs and alcohol including his time on Friends, and fans were initially concerned when a trailer for the reunion appeared to show him slurring his words. It was later reported that the actor had recently undergone dental surgery before filming, and Friends executive producer Kevin Bright said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter he believes Perry is in a healthy state today. “It was great seeing him again. And what people say is what people say,” Bright said. “I don’t have any to say about that, except it was great to see him. And I think he’s very funny on the show. But yes, I think he’s OK. He seems stronger and better since the last time I saw him, and excited about going forward.”

The Reunion director Ben Winston agreed Perry was “great” while filming. “People can sometimes just be unkind,” Winston told THR. “I wish they weren’t. I loved working with him. He’s a brilliantly funny man and I thought he had some great one-liners in the show. I felt just happy and lucky to be in his presence and directing him on something like this.”