Matthew Perry broke up with Julia Roberts because he felt he 'could never be enough'

Matthew Perry broke up with Julia Roberts because he couldn't face "the inevitable agony of losing her".

In an excerpt from his upcoming memoir, the actor revealed how the Pretty Woman star had been offered a guest role in a 1996 episode of Friends and she said she would only do it if she could have a storyline with him - but he had to "woo her" first.

Matthew initially sent Julia three dozen roses and a note but she replied by asking for him to explain quantum physics to her. He "hit the books" and sent her his science paper the following day.

"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**king Roberts," he wrote, reports The Times.

Matthew and Julia continued communicating via fax and their friendship turned romantic, with them becoming a couple by the time she filmed her episode, in which she played Chandler Bing's childhood crush, Susie Moss.

However, the 53-year-old called off their romance after two months because he was always convinced she was going to dump him.

"Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me," he explained. "I had been constantly certain that she was going to break up with me. Why would she not? I was not enough; I could never be enough; I was broken, bent, unloveable. So instead of facing the inevitable agony of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts. She might have considered herself slumming it with a TV guy, and TV guy was now breaking up with her. I can't begin to describe the look of confusion on her face."

Matthew's memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, will be released on 1 November.