Lauren Graham says Matthew Perry was an ‘almost’ in her life: ‘Technically’ not a boyfriend

“Gilmore Girls” alum Lauren Graham spent much of her Friday at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC, talking about her friendship with the late “Friends” actor Matthew Perry.

Graham, who is currently on a second book tour for her 2022 memoir “Have I Told You This Already?,” told fans during a Q&A session that “it’s still really hard to believe” that Perry died in October 2023.

“While he was not technically ever a boyfriend, he was an almost in my life,” Graham, 57, told the assembled crowd, adding that Perry was “a friend and a constant.”

“We would stretch for a year, then he would come back in my life, and he had just come back in my life last year,” Graham went on, revealing the pair reconnected after he bought her a pickleball set for her birthday in March.

Perry, 54, included a card that simply read “be older.”

Graham, who called Perry’s death “a terrible loss,” appeared in the actor’s 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” standing next to Perry in a photo.

“Me and the beautiful Lauren Graham,” the caption read.

The “Evan Almighty” star revealed that Perry was incredibly proud of how well his memoir was received.

“The solace I take from having seen him at the time I saw him was he was so thrilled with how his book was received,” Graham said. “And not just because it was a huge success, but because his life’s work kind of became, ‘How can I give back? How can I talk about the struggles I had and hopefully help someone else?’ ”

As previously reported by The Post, Perry was found dead at his home in LA due to “acute effects of ketamine,” which led to him drowning in his hot tub.

According to the medical examiner, Perry had 3,540 nanograms per milliliter of ketamine in his bloodstream at the time of his passing.

 “He essentially died from an overdose of ketamine and had about three times the normal [dosage] amount in his system,” pathologist Michael Baden told The Post at the time.

Prior to his death, the “Fools Rush In” star had been clean for 19 months.

During the initial search of Perry’s residence, police noted that while some prescription medications had been found, there were no illegal drugs or loose pills.

There was also no evidence of foul play and officials described Perry as “mildly obese,” per the report.

In his memoir, Perry estimated he had been to 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, rehab 15 times, been in detox 65 times and “probably spent $9 million” trying to get sober.