Matthew Perry Convinced Julia Roberts To Appear On 'Friends' By Writing Quantum Physics Paper

Matthew Perry has shared the clever way he persuaded Julia Roberts to guest star in an episode of "Friends" more than two decades ago.

Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom, revealed in his new memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible," that he wrote the "Runaway Bride" actress an entire paper on quantum physics to get her to make a cameo in the 1996 "Friends" Season 2 episode, "The One After the Superbowl, Part 2."

"Julia had been offered the post-Super Bowl episode in Season 2 and she would only do the show if she could be in my story line," Perry wrote, according to an excerpt from the book published by the U.K.'s The Times. "Let me say that again — she would only do the show if she could be in my story line. (Was I having a good year or what?) But first, I had to woo her."

Perry took inspiration from "Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman and tried to charm Roberts by sending her over "three dozen roses" and a note that read, "The only thing more exciting than the prospect of you doing the show is that I finally have an excuse to send you flowers."

But the flowers and note apparently weren't enough to convince Roberts.

"Her reply was that if I adequately explained quantum physics to her, she'd agree to be on the show," Perry recalled. "Wow. First of all, I'm in an exchange with the woman for whom lipstick was invented, and now I have to hit the books."

Perry took on the challenge and read up on quantum mechanics. Fortunately, his hard work was rewarded.

"The following day, I sent her a paper all about wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle and entanglement, and only some of it was metaphorical," he wrote. "Not only did Julia agree to do the show, but she also sent me a gift: bagels — lots and lots of bagels. Sure, why not? It was Julia f---ing Roberts."

They struck up a friendship via fax machine, and shortly after that, they began dating, according to the actor. Perry said they were already a couple when they started filming the "Friends" Super Bowl episode.

Looking back at his exchange of messages with the "Pretty Woman" actress via fax machine, he said the "Eat Pray Love" star was "so smart."

"The way she strung sentences together, the way she saw the world, the way she articulated her unique thoughts, all was so captivating," Perry added, Yahoo Sports reported.

They met shortly afterward and became a couple around New Year's Eve of 1995.

Perry also shared some context on their April 1996 breakup.

"Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me. I had been constantly certain that she was going to break up with me," he explained. "So instead of facing the inevitable agony of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts."

"Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing" will hit shelves on Nov. 1.