Julia Roberts dodges Matthew Perry question on ‘The View’

While appearing on ABC’s The View to promote her new Netflix movie Leave the World Behind, Julia Roberts dodged a chance to talk about her former Friends co-star Matthew Perry, who died at 54 on October 28.

Perry’s recent memoir revealed that he and the Pretty Woman star had a “three-month-long courtship” featuring flirty fax messages to each other. 

Roberts confirmed to The Late Show with David Letterman back in the day that she was dating Perry. Perry’s memoir reveals he broke things off after a brief time partially because of the “pressure” of dating someone of her celebrity status.

The View co-host Sara Haines didn’t reference that, but she asked the Oscar winner if she had a favorite memory working with Perry in her 1996 appearance on the ’90s sitcom, which was referenced multiple times in the disaster movie.

But Roberts didn’t bite. 

Instead, Roberts demurred talking about how great it was for her to appear in that particular episode as a “football fanatic,” adding appearing after Super Bowl XXX “made me feel that much closer to the Super Bowl, which I’ve never been to.”

Whoopi Goldberg then threw Roberts a lifeline and changed the focus to the cast’s upcoming Big Game party.

Incidentally, Julia recently told Entertainment Tonight of Perry, “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.” 

That said, she called the cast of the hit show “so welcoming” and said  “The One After The Super Bowl” was “a really fun time.”