Amid his failed relationships, Matthew Perry had long expressed his wish to start his own family. Back in 2004, when “Friends” ended, he described his ideal life, which included having children. “In a perfect world, my tennis game gets better,” he told Movieline. “I have kids and a beautiful wife and live on some hill somewhere that’s not in Los Angeles. And the script that Tom Hanks just barely turned down gets in my hands.”
But life was different for Perry. The star had a very public battle with substance abuse, which he only overcame in 2021 and openly spoke about. He shared everything about his experience in his memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” noting that his addiction derailed his plans. But he had gotten close to his dream when he was in a relationship with Lizzy Caplan – to whom he almost proposed.
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“For Christmas, I’d paid a huge amount of money for an artist to paint the two of us. My plan was to give her the painting and then ask the question…well, I never asked it… And it was time, all I had to do was say, ‘Honey, I love you. Will you…’ But I didn’t say it. All my fears reared up like a snake,'” he admitted. “I often think if I’d asked [her to marry me], now we’d have two kids and a house. Instead, I’m some schmuck who’s alone in his house at 53.”