Matthew Perry made headlines a few years ago for his dating choices. A TikTok user, Kate Haralson, claimed that the actor matched with her on a dating app in 2021. She also alleged that older male Hollywood stars are “taking advantage” of young women.
Matthew Perry, best known for playing the role of Chandler in the popular TV series Friends, passed away in 2023. The Friends actor reportedly died from the acute effects of ketamine. The star was 54 years old when he passed away.
A few years before he passed away, Perry was called out on the internet by a 19-year-old, Kate Haralson. The TikTok user posted a video on the platform claiming that the star had matched with her on Raya. What raised many eyebrows was the massive age gap between the two.
Kate revealed that the actor asked to move their conversation from the dating app to FaceTime right after they matched. “I was not really thinking anything of it,” she continued while talking about the situation. She also revealed that at that moment in time, she thought the situation would be “funny.”
Kate Haralson was kicked off Raya for recording Matthew Perry for a TikTok https://t.co/QD9f1JMJYT pic.twitter.com/6RY6OIwoPR
— celebitchy (@celebitchy) May 10, 2021
Kate also revealed that she had never watched the show ‘FRIENDS’ prior to matching with Perry. She shared that the actor then asked her to play 20 Questions. The then 19-year-old revealed that even though the nature of none of the questions was sexual, there were moments when she felt uncomfortable.
Haralson shared that Matthew did not seem to mind the age gap between them. “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 added.
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Another awkward moment in their conversation was when Matthew outright asked the 19-year-old if he was as old as her dad. “It was weird,” she told Page Six. Kate then told the 17 Again actor that he was a year older than her own father. She shared Matthew’s reaction to that and was just laughing it off.
“I feel like a lot of guys in Hollywood are talking to all these young girls and it’s something that I think a lot of people should be aware of,” she concluded. In the interview, Kate revealed that she got labelled as a “bully” for revealing her interaction with the actor. She also revealed feeling bad about the fact that people were calling her “mean” for speaking up about her encounter with the star.
