The literary agent shared a heartbreaking tribute to the late actor.
Tributes have been pouring in light of Matthew Perry’s sudden death on Oct. 28, including some from his former flames.
In an Instagram post on Monday, his ex-fiancée Molly Hurwitz paid her respects to the late actor, and his profound impact. “He would love that the world is talking about how talented he was,” she said of Perry. “And he really was very talented.”
Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on Friends, was found dead at the age of 54 in his home in the Los Angeles area on Saturday after an apparent drowning. His cause of death is still under examination by the Los Angeles Medical Examiner.
As many continue to grieve the news, here’s what we know about Hurwitz and her relationship with Perry.
Who is Molly Hurwitz?
Molly Hurwitz is a 32-year-old literary agent and has worked with some pretty big clients: Before joining Thruline Entertainment, she was a manager/producer at Zero Gravity Management, which boasts A-listers like Katherine Heigl and the late Angela Lansbury.
Since she has often been surrounded by celebrities via her work, it’s not surprising that she’s had more than one notable boyfriend; Hurwitz also reportedly dated The Office star B.J. Novak before getting together with Perry.
What did Molly Hurwitz say in her tribute to Matthew Perry?
Though she dated one of TV’s most famous actors and works in the entertainment industry, Hurwitz leads a relatively private life, having only joined Instagram in 2020. But she spoke out to honor Perry following his death, gushing about how the former couple rewatched Friends together in anticipation of the cast’s reunion special in 2021. According to Hurwitz, Perry’s response to his past performances as Chandler Bing on the show was “F**k, I was so good!!!…See what I did there???”
“We rewound and studied scenes,” she wrote. ”Our respect and appreciation of humor is something that connected us. Being with him as he rediscovered his brilliance was magical.”
She also offered a complex portrait of the star, who was open about his struggles with substance abuse. “While I loved him deeper than I could comprehend, he was complicated, and he caused pain like I’d never known,” she said in an Instagram post. “No one in my adult life has had a more profound impact on me than Matthew Langford Perry. I have tremendous gratitude for that, for everything I learned from our relationship.”
That complexity was evident in Perry’s account of their relationship, too: The actor admitted in his 2022 memoir that he was on drugs when he proposed to Hurwitz (though he didn’t use her name in the description of the incident). “I bought her a ring because I was desperate that she would leave me. I didn’t want to be this injured and alone during Covid. I was high on 1,800 milligrams of hydrocodone when I asked her to marry me. I had even asked for her family’s blessing… Then I’d proposed, high as a kite. And on one knee.” He later stated in the book that he didn’t remember proposing to Hurwitz at all.
When were Molly Hurwitz and Matthew Perry together?
Hurwitz was Perry’s last publicly known romance before his death. The duo, who had a 22-year age gap, started dating in 2018 after meeting through mutual friends.
But the couple didn’t confirm their relationship on social media until 2020, when the literary agent posted a tribute to him on Valentine’s Day. “Second year being my valentine, but his first as an Instagram influencer,” she wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post.
The couple called off the engagement in June 2021. “Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them. I wish Molly the best,” Perry’s rep told Us Weekly in a statement.
