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Kristin Davis has reflected on a surprising encounter with Matthew Perry during the peak of their fame in the 1990s. The Sex and the City star revealed on the August 18 episode of her podcast, Are You a Charlotte?, that she was once set up with the late Friends star, Matthew Perry, at a Hollywood dinner party.
"He's not my lawyer, but he's a nice lawyer, and I've been set up with Matthew Perry," Davis shared. "And this is like '98, '99, '97 maybe. I feel like it was between Melrose Place, which I did before [Sex and the] City, and it was at a house. It was a dinner party. It was so low-key."
Although the gathering was filled with "a bunch of Hollywood people," Davis admitted she doesn't remember many guests apart from "this lawyer and Matthew." She recalled Perry immediately making a positive impression. "Matthew's lovely. He sits next to me and he's talking about how thrilled he is, how happy they are on the set at Friends, and he was doing a film with Salma Hayek. I was like, 'Wow, he's so happy.'"
At the time, Davis was transitioning from her role as Brooke Armstrong on Melrose Place to preparing for what would become her career-defining role as Charlotte York on Sex and the City. Reflecting on the contrast, she said, "I had been around Melrose and it wasn't the happiest place in a way. There were 15 series regulars. Everyone had the feeling they might get cut, so it was that competitive and stressy. So I was like, 'Wow, that's amazing, you're so happy.'"
Though the evening never led to romance, Davis still looks back on the night with fondness. After dinner, she recalled how the atmosphere shifted when people began passing around marijuana, which left her feeling uncomfortable and anxious. Unlike many around her, Davis avoided drugs and alcohol throughout her career, something she felt set her apart in Hollywood.
Davis went on to global fame when Sex and the City premiered in 1998, running for six seasons and later expanding into films and the revival series And Just Like That... Perry, meanwhile, became a television icon through his role as Chandler Bing on Friends. He died in October 2023 at age 54.
