Category Entertainment News

As Erik Fleming is sentenced in relation to the tragic death of Matthew Perry, the Mirror takes a look at the Friends icon’s complicated love life, including his sad reason for never marrying

On May 17, 2001, Friends fans all over the world cheered as commitment-phobe Chandler Bing tied the knot with his opposites-attract soulmate, Monica Gellar.

The season seven finale of the wildly popular sitcom ended on a fairytale note. Sadly, as much as he longed for love, Chandler actor Matthew Perry, who passed away on October 28, 2023, never found his Monica.

Matthew was just 54 years old when he died in the hot tub of his LA home. His death was ruled as an accident from the ‘acute effects of ketamine’, and followed many years of addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Now, Erik Fleming, one of the five people charged in relation to Matthew’s death, is due to be sentenced. Fleming, 54, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine as well as one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. He had initially been due for sentencing on October 30, but this date was ultimately delayed.

At the time of his death, it’s believed Matthew had been single and was focusing his efforts on becoming sober. He had, however, been connected to many glamorous women over the years, and had endured a fair few highs and lows in his pursuit of love…

READ MORE: Friends cast member ‘hated’ theme song until one moment changed everything

Jennifer Aniston

From the moment he met her, Matthew admitted he was smitten. “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,” he wrote in his recent autobiography, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.

And when he landed the Friends gig, Jen was the first person he called – although he quickly realised his eagerness had been a mistake. “I could feel ice forming through the phone,” he wrote. “Looking back, it was clear that this made her think I liked her too much or in the wrong kind of way.”

But instead of slinking away, embarrassed, Matthew went all in and continued to ask her for a date. “I only compounded the error by then asking her out,” he continued. “[Jennifer] 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!'”

The two actors later sat down for their first Friends table read in 1994, and unfortunately for Matt, his feelings continued to linger once filming started, making their conversations ‘awkward’ as he ‘crushed badly’ on his co-star. “I’d ask myself, how long can I look at her? Is three seconds too long?”

But by the time Jennifer started dating Brad Pitt in 1998, Matthew said he had “long since gotten over” her and was able to speak to her normally. He said that the success of the show, coupled with her ‘deafening lack of interest’, eventually cured him and they became lasting friends.

Meanwhile, he also revealed that it was Jennifer who confronted him about his drinking while filming Friends, something he was eternally grateful for, as it forced him to face the situation, a move that undoubtedly saved his life.

The actor, who once ‘nearly’ died from heavy drug use, said his co-star asked him outright about his scary drug and alcohol use at the height of his career and praised her for being a good friend. Matthew recalled how Jennifer told him, “We know you’re drinking”. “Imagine how scary a moment that was,” he said. “She was the one who reached out the most, you know. I’m really grateful to her for that.”

Julia Roberts

In his autobiography, Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing, Matthew revealed how he and Pretty Woman actress Julia Roberts had a three-month relationship. The Friends star detailed the fiery fling and says it began after Julia was asked to appear as guest character Susie Moss during one episode in 1995.

Matthew said he sent Julia ‘three dozen red roses’ after being told by producers that Julia would take part in the show, only if it involved his character. He said, following a five-hour phone call, Julia turned up at his door and “a relationship began”. Just three months later, Matthew says he dumped the Hollywood star over fears he was “certain she was going to break up with [him]”.

Failed engagement

Matthew was engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz in 2020. Sharing his joy with People magazine, Matthew hailed her as “the greatest woman on the face of the planet.” “I decided to get engaged,” he said, “Luckily, I happened to be dating the greatest woman on the face of the planet at this time.” Sadly, they split just seven months later. In a statement released to People, the Friends star said: “Sometimes things just don’t work out, and this is one of them. I wish Molly the best.”

Yasmine Bleeth

On the show, Matthew’s character, Chandler Bing, was famously a huge fan of Baywatch, and off-screen, he is said to have dated one of the programme’s stars, Yasmine Bleeth. According to Page Six, they were together after his fling with Julia in 1996. Two years later, he was linked to his Three to Tango co-star Neve Campbell, while his first serious relationship is said to have been with Bold and Beautiful soap star Maeve Quinlan.

Rachel Dunn

Matthew dated professional volleyball player Rachel Dunn for two years, and they were an item when Friends reached its emotional conclusion in 2004. He made several public appearances with the former fashion student and once told the Evening Standard that she had changed his outlook on life.

“With Rachel in my life, I know that I can be very committed and not some selfish guy who just wants to hang out with friends. I want to spend time with my girlfriend and explore what it means to have a much closer relationship than I’ve previously had time for,” he said.

Lizzy Caplan

Matthew and Mean Girls star Lizzie were together for six years. They started dating in 2006 and flew largely under the radar. But rumours of trouble were rife by 2013 when Lizzie would “not even entertain any questions relating to her partner” during an interview, and covered her ears at the mention of his name.

“I can stand right next to paparazzi, and I do that sometimes. I’m close with people who are far more famous, and they know how to avoid attention,” she cryptically said. It later emerged they had split a year earlier.

Why did he never marry?

Matthew once shared the heartbreaking reason he never settled down, admitting he was plagued by intrusive thoughts and fears whenever he was involved with someone. “I break up with them because I’m deathly afraid that they will find out that I’m not enough, that I don’t matter, and that I’m too needy, and they’ll break up with me,” he told GQ magazine ahead of the release of his autobiography.

Determined to stay sober, he explained that he couldn’t risk putting his emotions on the line as a split would “annihilate me and I’ll have to take drugs and that will kill me. That’s why I break up with these wonderful women that have crossed my path,” he added.

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com.

READ MORE: Friends’ Janice actress describes sweet encounter she thinks was ‘sign’ from Matthew Perry

The first photos from Hulu drama All’s Fair have been released today along with a teaser trailer but while Kim Kardashian is a huge name, some fans aren’t happy

Potential viewers have been less than impressed by the poster for Ryan Murphy’s latest Hulu series All’s Fair as it was released today, with Kim Kardashian pictured leading the charge. The reality star-turned-actress stars as Allura Grant, a high-powered divorce attorney at the helm of an all-female law firm in the glossy legal drama.

Joining her on screen is a formidable line-up of talent, including Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Teyana Taylor, Sarah Paulson and, most notably, Oscar nominee Glenn Close. The series follows a group of women who leave a male-dominated legal firm to launch their own powerhouse practice. The official synopsis teases courtroom fireworks, personal rivalries and more than a few scandalous secrets.

According to the show’s official synopsis, the women “navigate high-stakes breakups, scandalous secrets, and shifting allegiances – both in the courtroom and within their own ranks. In a world where money talks and love is a battleground, these women don’t just play the game – they change it.”

Produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television, the series marks Murphy’s first major project under his new deal with Disney after departing Netflix.

The writing and executive producing team includes Jon Robin Baitz, Joe Baken, Jamie Pachino, Lyn Greene, and Richard Levine. Directing duties are shared with Anthony Hemingway, who also serves as executive producer, as do Kardashian, Close, Watts, Nash-Betts, and Paulson.

But while the star-studded teaser trailer has generated considerable buzz, not everyone is thrilled with the show’s promotional materials.

The poster has sparked a backlash on social media, as Kim Kardashian takes precedence in it, while veteran actress Glenn Close is pushed into the background.

“In what world, though, is Glenn Close BEHIND Kim Kardashian,” one fan fumed on X, adding: “I want names and badge numbers. I don’t care if she’s in one episode for five minutes, you put Glenn Close front and centre.”

The teaser trailer, however, hints at a meaty role for Close, who plays fierce legal strategist Dina Standish. In one standout moment, she instructs a client: “Get mad! Get hot! Get revenge!”

Meanwhile, Kardashian can be seen delivering a poised performance as Allura, coolly addressing a cocky husband during a tense meditation saying: “You’re right. Everything we’re going to show you today, you should be intimately familiar with.”

The role may resonate with Kardashian on a personal level, as her late father, Robert Kardashian Sr., was famously part of O.J. Simpson’s defence team during his 1995 murder trial.

Another striking moment from the trailer featured Judith Light declaring: “You know what a woman’s best friend is? Not diamonds. Her lawyers.”

Kim Kardashian is best known for starring in reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but she previously played a scripted role in one of Ryan Murphy’s other shows, American Horror Story. In Delicate she played the supporting character Siobhan Corbyn, who is the best friend of female lead Anna Victoria Alcott.

Jamie Lee Curtis Got plastic surgery at 25 after a movie maker refused to film her saying: ‘I am not shooting her because her eyes are baggy’

Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis has revealed how a cruel jibe from a filmmaker pushed her into getting plastic surgery when she was still only 25 years old.

The actress says the experience left her with physical, emotional, and addictive consequences that lasted for years. Speaking candidly to America’s 60 Minutes, Curtis recalled the moment on the set of the 1985 film Perfect that changed her relationship with her body and career forever.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not shooting her today. Her eyes are baggy.’ And I was 25, so for him to say that, it was very embarrassing,” Curtis said. “So as soon as the movie finished, I ended up having some plastic surgery.” The movie, directed by James Bridges and co-starring John Travolta, featured Curtis as an aerobics instructor opposite the leading man’s investigative journalist.

Though she took the role seriously, it was the behind-the-scenes body shaming that stuck with her. Curtis says the procedure didn’t go well, nor did the aftermath. “That’s just not what you want to do when you’re 25 or 26,” she said. And I regretted it immediately and have kind of regretted it since.”

The A Fish Called Wanda star, now 66, said the pressure to conform to Hollywood’s beauty standards came at a steep personal cost. What began with cosmetic surgery soon led to a dependency on painkillers. “I became very enamoured with the warm bath of an opiate,” Curtis added.

“You know, drank a little bit… never to excess, never any big public demonstrations. I was very quiet, very private about it, but it became a dependency for sure.”

Her struggle with addiction would follow her for years. In 2021, Curtis revealed in an interview with Fast Company that the surgery led directly to her dependence on Vicodin. “I tried plastic surgery and it didn’t work. It got me addicted to Vicodin,” she said. “I’m 22 years sober now.” Curtis is now a vocal advocate for body acceptance and a staunch critic of society’s fixation on altered appearances. “

“I’ve become a really public advocate to say to women, you’re gorgeous and you’re perfect the way you are. So yeah, it was not a good thing for me to do,” she said. She also spoke out against the current trends in cosmetic procedures and social media filters.

“The current trend of fillers and procedures, and this obsession with filtering, and the things that we do to adjust our appearance on Zoom are wiping out generations of beauty,” she added. “Once you mess with your face, you can’t get it back.”

Curtis has often drawn from her own experience to help others on their path to recovery. During the filming of Freaky Friday in 2003, she had been sober for just nine months but created a safe space on set for others dealing with addiction.

“I put a big sign up by the catering truck, and it said, ‘Recovery meeting in Jamie’s trailer every day,’” she told Variety in 2019. “I left the door open and didn’t know if anybody would show up. We ended up calling it the Mobile Home Recovery Meeting.”

Curtis said the group became a powerful support system. “It was probably my favourite grouping of sobriety that I’ve ever participated in. I’ve participated in groups all over the world, but there was something about the cross section of ages and genders and jobs and races, and it was profound.”

Growing up as the daughter of Hollywood legends Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Curtis also reflected on the pressures of beauty and ageing in the spotlight.

She recalled watching both of her parents undergo cosmetic procedures and struggle with the slow decline of career opportunities.

“I watched their work diminish, I watched their fame not diminish. And the contradiction of a lot of fame, but not a lot of work, is really hard to navigate for people,” she said. “For the rest of your life, you’re famous for something you did a long time ago, and you chase that attention.”

BBC staff members want action to be taken against Match of the Day host Gary Lineker after he shared a pro-Palestine video on social media accompanied by a rat emoji

Gary Lineker has apologised after leaving staff at the BBC furious over his “repeated offensiveness to Jewish people” after he shared a pro-Palestine video.

Lineker, 64, left colleagues at the corporation upset after sharing a a pro-Palestine video featuring an ‘anti-Semitic’ rat emoji from the campaign group, Palestine Lobby, on Monday.

Apologising for the post, Lineker said: “On Instagram I reposted material which I have since learned contained offensive references. I very much regret these references.

“I would never knowingly share anything antisemitic. It goes against everything I believe in.” The Match of the Day presenter said he deleted the post “as soon as I became aware of the issue”.

The former England striker has since deleted the post but has been the subject of a backlash from staff and others on social media. As outlined by The Telegraph, the BBC’s response – or lack of – to Lineker’s actions has left some members of staff far from happy.

READ MORE: Gary Lineker faces sack calls after BBC host sparks outrage by sharing pro-Palestine videoREAD MORE: Gary Lineker’s awkward exchange with ex-Premier League boss on Match of the Day

One anonymous staff member condemned Lineker and claimed his actions have ‘brought the organisation into disrepute’.

“It is quite simply disgusting that the BBC has not kicked Lineker out,” they said. “His repeated offensiveness to Jewish people has clearly brought the BBC into disrepute. The interpretation of Zionism he has shared is anti-Semitic and the fact that the BBC thinks it’s acceptable is deeply upsetting to its Jewish staff, myself included.”

Another source argued that the BBC had missed the “perfect opportunity” to get rid of Lineker when he was suspended for comments about the previous Government. They added: “He’s the perfect example of someone who doesn’t think the rules apply to them and abuses them at every turn – the type highlighted in the culture review, published no more than a fortnight ago.”

A spokesperson for Lineker told the publication: “Whilst viewing and reposting a video, Gary did not notice a rodent emoticon added by the author of the post,” he added. “Although if he had, he would not have made any connection. The repost has been removed.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism group called for the BBC to sack Lineker following his decision to share the post. “Nothing to see here,” they wrote on X. “Just Gary Lineker’s Instagram account sharing an anti-Israel video misrepresenting Zionism, complete with a rat emoji.

“Not only does this video deliberately misrepresent Zionism – the belief that Jews have the same right to self-determination as everyone else – but it adds a rat emoji in doing so. Why is it that Gary Lineker keeps sharing content on social media that seems to cater to Jew-haters?”

“The BBC’s reputation is held by everyone and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us. And I think we absolutely need people to be the exemplars of BBC values and follow our social media policies, simple as that,” Davie said.

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Lineker is poised to stand down from his long running role as host of Match of the Day at the end of the 2024/25 campaign. He is, however, contracted to remain with the BBC until next year to front their coverage of both the FA Cup and the World Cup.

Tom Cruise’s film crew on his latest “Mission: Impossible” epic feared the actor was about to die after he appeared to pass out on the wing of a stunt plane over Africa.

The 62-year-old, who does his own stunts and was flying the biplane alone, was laid out flat on the wing after spending 22 minutes out of the cockpit — 10 more than safety guidelines allowed, his director Christopher McQuarrie told a masterclass at the Cannes film festival, where “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is premiering Wednesday.

“When you leave the cockpit of the plane, it’s like stepping onto the surface of another planet,” McQuarrie said.

“The wind is hitting you in excess of 140 miles an hour (225 kph) coming off the propeller. You’re breathing, but only physically. You’re not actually getting oxygen.

“Tom had pushed himself to the point that he was so physically exhausted, he couldn’t get back up off the wing. He was laying on the wing of the plane, his arms were hanging over the front of the wing. We could not tell if he was conscious or not,” said the American filmmaker, who has shot the four last movies of the franchise.

READ ALSO: Sean Combs’s Ex Cassie Says He Forced Her Into ‘Disgusting’ Sex Ordeals

Cruise, a trained acrobatics pilot, was alone on the biplane and had agreed a hand signal to show if he was in trouble, McQuarrie said.

“You can’t do this when you’re unconscious,” the director told an audience at Cannes, with Cruise sitting beside him nodding sheepishly.

To make matter worse, the plane had only six minutes of fuel left. But the star finally stirred.

“We watched Tom as he pulled himself up and stuck his head in the cockpit so that he could replenish the oxygen in his body and then climb up into the cockpit and bring the plane safely down to land.

“No one on Earth can do that but Tom Cruise,” he said to rapturous applause.

Asked about how he dealt with the fear, Cruise pointed to the years of preparation that went into his movies. But in the end, “I like the feeling. It’s just an emotion for me. It’s something that is not paralysing.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s exciting’… I don’t mind kind of encountering the unknown.”

It was far from the only scare the pair had on the $400 million epic, the eighth in the franchise known for its dizzying set pieces and heart-stopping action scenes.

 ‘No way to test that thing’

With fans fearing that the “The Final Reckoning” title meant it might be the last in the series, McQuarrie said the plane scene was not the only one that could have ended everything.

One of the new movie’s most dramatic moments involves Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt diving inside a sunk Russian nuclear submarine in the Bering Sea.

McQuarrie said it took two and a half years to build the set in London.

“Remember that when you’re watching Tom inside this semi-submerged rotating room inside the submarine, that is housed inside a 60-foot diameter, 1,000-ton, 360-degree rotating, fully submersible steel gimbal in a 8.5-million-litre tanker. And he’s inside it,” he said.

“And what you’re watching is us testing it. Because there is no way to test that thing.

“We built a model, and we put a little plastic figure and a bunch of torpedoes in it, and rotated it once, and they smashed the little plastic figure.”

Neither Cruise nor McQuarrie would confirm or deny if the new movie was the final “Mission: Impossible”, with Cruise calling it the “culmination of three decades of work”.

The film is being released in India, Australia and South Korea this weekend, with audiences in Europe and the Middle East having to wait until May 21 and those in North America until May 23.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s former partner Casandra Ventura is expected to be grilled by the fallen music mogul’s defense lawyers Wednesday as she returns to court for a second day of testimony.

Singer and model Ventura, better known as Cassie, is also likely to face questions about allegations Combs raped her in 2018, as well as her graphic accounts of elaborate sex parties organised by the hip-hop icon.

In an emotional first day of testimony, Ventura, who is heavily pregnant, also detailed beatings and abuse at the hands of Combs whom she painted as controlling and willing to wield his wealth and influence to get his way.

READ ALSO: Sean Combs’s Ex Cassie Says He Forced Her Into ‘Disgusting’ Sex Ordeals

She gave vivid accounts that will underpin much of the prosecution’s case against the music industry figure who is alleged to have used violence and blackmail to manipulate women over many years.

Ventura recounted so-called “freak-off” sex parties saying she participated because she was “just in love and wanted to make (Combs) happy — to a point I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice.”

Ventura, who is 17 years younger than Combs and first met him when she was 19, described how the mogul would sometimes urinate on her, or he would instruct one of the numerous sex workers he engaged to do so.

‘It was disgusting’

The escorts, almost always men, were paid thousands of dollars in cash after encounters.

“It was disgusting. It was too much. It was overwhelming,” she said, adding that the hotel rooms used for the marathon sex sessions were often trashed, with establishments charging sizable cleaning and repair bills including for sheets stained with blood and urine.

Combs’s defence team indicated that during cross-examination, which is expected as early as Wednesday afternoon, they would seek to emphasise that Ventura took drugs of her own free will, and behaved erratically.

Ventura said that during the encounters she took drugs including ecstasy, ketamine and cocaine, and that the “drugs honestly helped” her meet Combs’s demands to stay awake for days on end.

The drugs also had a “dissociative and numbing” effect, she said, “a way to not feel it for what it really was.”

In a hotel surveillance clip from March 2016 shown to jurors Monday and again Tuesday, Combs is seen brutally beating and dragging Ventura down a hallway.

The prosecution played portions of the footage while Ventura was on the stand.

When asked why she didn’t fight back or get up, Ventura answered simply that curled up on the ground “felt like the safest place to be.”

Combs’s defense team insists while some of his behavior was questionable it did not constitute racketeering and sex trafficking. He denies all counts and proceedings are expected to last eight to 10 weeks.