How Matt LeBlanc is the real-life Joey Tribbiani – from steamy porn star fling to Jennifer Aniston rumours and divorce
AS Joey Tribbiani on Friends, Matt LeBlanc was the ultimate ladies’ man, leaving women all over New York swooning as he uttered his famous catchphrase, “How you doin’?”
The 54-year-old actor was popular with women off-screen too, with rumoured flings with the likes of Jennifer Aniston, porn star Jenna Jameson, a teenage Kate Hudson and British actress Minnie Driver.
Today we revealed he has split from his Top Gear producer girlfriend of six years, Aurora Mulligan - who is 17 years his junior.
Last year the "besotted" couple appeared to be going strong, with Matt telling Graham Norton they were living together in London.
He said: “It's half and half. I have a flat here with my girlfriend, but my home is in LA.”
A source said the couple struck a "clean break", but it's still "very raw", with Matt taking the news "particularly hard".
It's the latest in a string of long-term romances which have failed to go the distance.
It could be he's taking after his dad, who Matt described as a "ladies' man" who's been married "eight, nine, 10 times".
Here we took a look at the actor's love life and dating history...
Marathon sex sessions with Playboy Playmate
More on matt leblanc
For three years in the 90s, Matt enjoyed a passionate on-off relationship with Playboy Playmate Tonya Poole.
And Tonya was very complimentary about his love-making - drawing comparisons between Matt and his on-screen persona.
In a chat with The Sun, she revealed: "Matt is everything a woman could want and more.
"With him making love is about quality, not quantity. He takes his time to woo you and seduce you.
"He would run me huge, deep baths and gently massage every inch of me with oil. Or we would have long, steamy showers together.
Matt takes his time to woo and seduce you... we would have long, steamy showers together. My friend told me he should be called Matt LeBonk
Tonya Poole
"Matt loves making love and he’s the best. When he focuses those big, dark eyes on you, it makes you feel like his entire universe revolves around you."
"I’ve got an English friend who told me he should be called Matt LeBonk. When she explained it to me and I told him, he cracked up. He thought it was hysterical."
Tonya recalled how she and Matt would have sex "marathons", making love up to four times a night, and would romp on the beach so often that they had a “favourite cave” which had "amazing acoustics".
Dates with teenage Kate Hudson
Around the same time he was dating Tonya, Matt, then 28, was spotted in a bar kissing Kate Hudson - who was then 17 years old.
Neither have ever confirmed or denied anything happened between them.
'Grossed out' Real Housewives star
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville has said she once dated Matt - but was “too grossed out" to kiss him because he let his dog lick his ice cream.
On Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, she said: “It was disgusting.
“I'm not going to kiss you after you lick your ice cream and feed it to your dog. I was like, 20, by the way."
In fact, Brandi was so put off, she went on to date Matt's Friends co-star David Schwimmer for three months instead!
Rumoured fling with Jennifer Aniston
Matt and his dad Paul don’t appear to have a good relationship - with things going sour when Paul claimed his son had been secretly “making out” with his Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston.
Both vehemently denied claims of an on-set fling, but Paul insisted Matt had boasted about snogging Jen.
"He even had a relationship with one of of the girls... Jen," Paul told OK! USA.
“[Matt] got on good with Jen. He told me about it – they would make out in the dressing room."
But Jen's publicist hit back: "Jennifer has never had a romantic or sexual relationship with Matt LeBlanc."
Sudden split
After a string of short-lived relationships in the 90s, Matt seemed to have found "the one" with model Melissa McKnight.
The two were introduced by Lou Diamond Phillips' then-wife Kelly, and after just one year of dating he popped the question, and they wed in Hawaii in 2003.
They welcomed their daughter Marina, now 18, the following year.
The couple faced every parent's worst nightmare when Marina was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder called cortical dysplasia at eight months old. Luckily, with treatment, she made a full recovery.
But the couple's marriage didn’t fare as well, allegedly due to Matt’s womanising ways.
When they split it's reported he abruptly moved out of the family home. "It was very sudden," Lou told People at the time. "She was absolutely blindsided by what transpired."
Cheated with lapdancer
Matt later admitted an encounter with Canadian lapdancer Stephanie Stephens in 2005 was partly what led to the end of his three-year marriage.
Matt told the National Enquirer that a strip club was “not where a family man should be”, but went on to claim the dancer was partially to blame.
“She was in my face, pushing her breasts into me and grabbing my hands to go all over her body,” he said.
“She was telling me to caress her, and in my head I’m thinking, ‘What’s going on?’”
Joey co-star relationship
Matt later dated his Joey co-star Andrea Anders, who played his onscreen love interest in the spin-off show.
Ironically she went on to play Friends star Matthew Perry's love interest on the short-lived TV series Mr. Sunshine.
"Isn't that neat?" she joked at the time. "I'm just going to slowly work my way through the cast of Friends, although I can't get Jennifer Aniston to return my calls.”
They seemed happy throughout their eight-year relationship, but split in 2015 after Matt was allegedly seen cheating on her during a Halloween party in Austin, Texas.
Dumped over text
Several women claimed to have flings with Matt, including actress Holly Magrath, who says she met him in 2010 when she was an extra in Episodes.
She claimed their tryst lasted three weeks, and that Matt plied her with Champagne, confessed he had a girlfriend but told her it was “on-off” and that Holly was his perfect woman.
The pair reportedly spent two nights together in his hotel suite and exchanged dozens of text messages over a week before meeting again for a third liaison.
According to Holly, Matt called time on their relationship in a text message which read: “I can't see you any more. Too much drama for me.”
Read More on The US Sun
She told the Daily Mail: “Matt is an incredible guy. He was lovely, very grounded and very normal. There's a sincerity and warmth to him and he would stare into my eyes for hours.
“But after flattering me constantly, he stopped answering my texts and didn't keep arrangements to meet. I was annoyed when he called things off but not heartbroken. I knew he was only in London for a short time.”