Matthew Perry Condemned Dating Apps After Raya Scandal: ‘It’s Not the Way to Meet People’
Friends star Matthew Perry was well-known for his role as Chandler Bing. Unfortunately, he also had a history of failed relationships that he explained in detail in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. From dating A-listers to failed engagements, Perry’s been through it all. He also gave dating apps a shot, but he ultimately condemned them while speaking to Andy Cohen.
Matthew Perry told Andy Cohen that dating apps were ‘not the way to meet people’
Matthew Perry hoped to find love in his life, and in the past, he did — but it didn’t last. He admitted to pulling the plug on relationships due to his fear of commitment. And in his adult years, he gave dating apps a shot. Perry was on Raya, a dating app touted as the most exclusive and commonly holds celebrity memberships. But it seems like Perry didn’t have much luck on the app.
At the end of 2022, Perry spoke to Andy Cohen about the apps. “I could not be more single,” Perry said then. He then admitted that he did some online dating, but he declared he was off of them.
“It’s not the way to meet people, I don’t think,” Perry added. “I don’t know how to meet people, but that’s not the way to do it.”
Cohen asked the Friends star if he’s looking to date somebody who’s also sober. “Well, that would be good,” Perry stated. “But it’s not a necessity. I wouldn’t like to be with somebody who drank so much that you couldn’t recognize them. That would not be good. But, I don’t have any rules about that.”
He had a mishap on the prestigious dating app Raya that gave him negative attention
When speaking to Andy Cohen, Matthew Perry noted that he was finished with dating apps forever. And this news came well after his mishap on Raya.
Raya user Kate Haralson, who was 19 then, matched with Perry in 2021. Haralson took a video of her exchange with the Friends star and posted it to TikTok, where it gained public traction. She noted how she and Perry switched from Raya to FaceTime quickly. While nothing they discussed was sexual, she said she felt a bit uncomfortable speaking to the star, given her young age.
“It kind of felt weird talking to someone my dad’s age, and it just felt not right, especially when he knew how young I was,” she told Page Six.
“You post something, and you just have to expect for some people to be on your side and others to be on their side,” Haralson continued. “Obviously, a lot of people are going to take his side since he’s a celeb TV character, but that’s OK.” She later took down the video, noting that Perry was a “nice guy” to her despite the age gap.
“I just did it more for the joke of it, which sounds mean, but I didn’t think anything of it,” she added of FaceTiming Perry. “I thought it was more so innocent and harmless.”
Matthew Perry was ready for lasting love before his death
Matthew Perry admitted to ditching great girlfriends in the past due to his own fears. “That was me afraid,” Perry told People. “That is what I manifest, something that’s wrong with them. And then I break up with them. But there can’t be something wrong with everyone. I’m the common denominator. I left first because I thought they were going to annihilate me.”
With that in mind, he was ready for lasting love. “I’m going to learn as I go,” he noted. “The thing that’s changed about me is I have no interest in hanging out with somebody that I don’t know or somebody that I’m not that into. The next person I really take seriously is somebody that I’m going to be in love with and not be scared by the things that used to scare me.”
Sadly, Perry died in October 2023. Friends fans and those who knew him personally mourn the loss.
For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.
