- Matthew Perry said that he met Gwyneth Paltrow in Massachusetts before "Friends" premiered in 1994.
- "At some big party we slipped off into a broom cupboard and made out," he said.
Matthew Perry said that he and Gwyneth Paltrow had a brief romantic encounter in the 1990s before "Friends" premiered and became a cultural phenomenon.
In his new memoir titled "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," released on Tuesday, Perry wrote about how his life changed once "Friends," in which he starred as Chandler Bing, made its debut on NBC in September 1994.
The show, which would go on to run for 10 seasons, costarred David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), and Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani).
Perry said that he knew the show was poised for success when he first read the script for the sitcom. When the core cast was assembled and had their first table read together, he said that "all the jokes landed" and they "finished to thunderous applause."
"Everyone could smell money," he recalled. "The cast could smell fame."
"This show was going to work, and it was going to change everyone's lives forever," he said.
The "17 Again" star recalled the cast jetting off to multiple upfronts, events in which a show is presented to network affiliates and advertisers, and sensing that "Friends" would be a hit.
"Then we had to wait a summer before the show first aired," he wrote. "I filled that summer with three notable things — gambling in Vegas at the behest of ['Friends' director] Jimmy Burrows; a trip to Mexico on my own; and a make-out session in a closet with Gwyneth Paltrow."
Perry said that he met the "Hook" actress in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
"She was doing a play there, and I was visiting my grandfather," he said. "At some big party, we slipped off into a broom cupboard and made out. We were both still unknown enough that it didn't make it to the tabloids, but with that in mind, it fell to Jimmy Burrows to give me a reality check."
Perry said that Burrows told the cast that their lives would change once the show premiered. So, he gave the six cast members $100 to gamble and have fun in Vegas.
"We six new friends got drunk and gambled and wandered through the casinos, just six close strangers on a weekend trip, unknown to anyone, no one asking for autographs or photos, none of us being chased by paparazzi, a million miles from what was coming, which was every single moment of our lives being documented in public for all to see forever," he said.
"This was the last summer of my life when I could make out at a party with a beautiful young woman called Gwyneth and no one, save Gwyneth and I, cared," Perry added.
A representative for Paltrow didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.