The Untold Truth Of Courteney Cox

We all watched as Courteney Cox evolved onscreen as the iconic "Friends" character, Monica Geller. Cox took viewers on a journey from Monica's tough early 20s in New York to her thriving life as a mom of two in 10 seasons, and, by doing so, won all of our hearts over along the way. So many of us associate Cox with Monica, that if we were to ever see the actress out in public, we'd put money on any one of us saying "Monica!" instead of "Courteney" — the actress and the character really seem that synonymous in our pop culture.

But who is the actress behind the beloved Monica? Cox has been working in the entertainment industry for a long time, but never intended on becoming an actress in her younger years. After dropping out of school and pursuing a career onscreen, Cox took the sitcom world by storm and then some — appearing in iconic shows including "Cougar Town" and "Dirt" and films like the "Scream" franchise.

So if you're wondering who Cox really is — what her early life was like, whom she's been married to, what her aspirations are — look no further. Here is the untold truth of Courteney Cox.

From what we can piece together, it seems that Courteney Cox's parents impacted her in a profound way. As noted by Biography, Cox was born to her parents in 1964, and, by 1974, they had gotten divorced. Cox — the youngest of four — then went to live with her mom and stepfather, but the divorce stayed with her in a very significant way. 

Cox shared with The Guardian one of the most impactful memories she has of her childhood. "The most impactful was when my parents got divorced. I was 10." As for what, if anything, she feels she owed to her parents, she said, "My [mom] wasn't a go-getter so I am thankful that I was able to witness that and be completely the opposite."

In a similar tone, Cox shared with The Guardian the personality trait she hates the most in people: "the inability to be accountable." From her snippets, it seems that Cox's experiences as a young kid have certainly had an impact on many of the decisions she's made as an adult.

As noted by Biography, Courteney Cox dropped out of Mount Vernon College and moved to New York City, where she started working as a model. Her career then transferred to that of acting, and the rest is history. Surprisingly, Cox had different career aspirations when she was young. She told The Guardian that she wanted to be an architect — she was actually studying architecture at Mount Vernon College when she decided to pursue other avenues.

While Cox made it big in the acting world, it's clear that architecture is still very close to her heart. She let Architectural Digest into her Malibu, California home, where she discussed her inspiration behind every design, detail, and piece of furniture. "When I got this house, my designer, Trip Haenisch, was able to bring in the pops of color and the interesting pieces I wouldn't have necessarily gone for. We had a fantastic time doing it," she said. "This is a house I'll never move from — it really is so special to me." 

Throughout her time in Malibu, Cox has decorated her home with monochromatic pieces, as well as personal items. Sounds fabulous!

You might remember the episode of "Friends" when all the names in the credits had "Arquette" at the end of them — that was because Courteney Cox and David Arquette had just gotten married in real life, and it was such a sweet nod to the new couple. As noted by Today, Cox and Arquette met on the set of the 1996 film "Scream," and they tied the knot three years later. Sadly, they decided to end their marriage. 

Despite their personal history, Cox and Arquette still have managed to work together. Arquette revealed that he and Cox would be working together for "Scream 5" and highlighted the fact that they've always been able to be professional together. "We always love working together," he said. "She's an incredible actress, so it'll be fun to bring these characters back to life and see where they're at." 

The saddest aspect of their divorce, however, was the impact it had on the couple's daughter, Coco. When interviewed by The Guardian, Arquette was asked, "To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?" He answered, "My daughter, Coco, because divorce is so difficult."

We all celebrated when Rachel Green and Ross Geller welcomed their baby, Emma, into the world. Monica Geller became an aunt (for the second time) onscreen, and all of us viewers were beyond thrilled. But Courteney Cox, while appearing happy onscreen, was actually going through immense loss during that time. She told NBC in 2004 that while they were filming the scene of Rachel giving birth, Cox, herself, had just suffered a miscarriage (via The Sun). "It was like that same time. Oh my God, it was terrible having to be funny," she shared. 

Cox was married to David Arquette at the time and tragically shared that she had suffered seven miscarriages. She was formally diagnosed with an MTHFR gene mutation, which heightened her chances of getting blood clots. It wasn't until she went through the IVF process that Cox was able to have a baby. "No one in my family has a problem. So to me, I just thought this would not be a problem at all," she said. "It was really weird because everyone in my family has kids. I mean, they pop out like it's nobody's business."

As of publication, Courteney Cox is in a relationship with Irish musician Johnny McDaid, of bands including Snow Patrol and Vega4. The two have been going steady for some time, but had to endure an extremely tough circumstance due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

As noted by People, the couple spent months apart, as McDaid was in Europe, and Cox was in the United States — once everything shut down and the world stopped turning (figuratively), the couple were kept apart. "He was supposed to go to Switzerland to write and instead had to go to England. Then all of a sudden, this all happened and they called a quarantine," Cox said while appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." "I have not seen him in so long." 

The couple finally did get to reunite, and, when they did so, shared a video message expressing their gratitude for the frontline workers during the pandemic. But the difficulty of their separation was, according to Cox, extremely rough. "But now it's like, oh my God, I just miss his physical touch — just all of it," she said of their separation.

The beauty of "Friends" was that viewers truly felt as though the cast members were close in real life. We're happy to report that they are, and Courteney Cox has remained very tight with her former co-stars. As noted by Today, Cox has met up with Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow on a number of occasions, and the actresses have taken to social media to share their gatherings with their fans.

Cox celebrated her birthday in style with Aniston and Kudrow in tow. She posted a photo of the three of them together on Instagram with the caption, "How lucky am I to celebrate my birthday with these two??? I love you girls. So much." The three ladies of "Friends" also reunited on Aniston's social media platform, as they shared a glimpse into one of their girls' nights with fans. "Hi from the girls across the hall," Aniston captioned the post.

An inside source told People that the former co-stars have really "leaned on each other" since "Friends" came to an end. "They follow each other's lives. The fact that they have been there for each other in happy and in sad times says a lot," the source shared.

We want a full season revival of "Friends" with all the stars back onscreen. However, some of the show's actors, including Matthew Perry, have said that a revival would be a bad idea. Even David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox's on-camera brother, said, "I just don't know if I want to see all of us with crutches [and] walkers" when asked about a reboot. 

But Cox, as noted by People, said that she'd be happy to see the gang back together. "I would do anything to be in a room with all of those people acting and having a great time," she said. So is there a glimmer of hope? Nope, because Cox followed by saying, "But I don't see it happening." 

Cox revealed that she's been asked dozens of times if a reboot would ever be in the cards, and she's maintained that while it would be an amazing experience to join her former castmates again, the show would lose part of its magic. "That was a story about [this] group of people that are friends in their 30s who are finding themselves. I don't know if there's a way to redo it," she said.

Though we're all waiting for that reboot, the gang will be back for the Friends reunion special.

Courteney Cox is the definition of a "cool mom." She opened up during an appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show" about parenting her teenage daughter, Coco, and what she allows her daughter to get away with — as it turns out, they seem to have a beautiful relationship built on support, as noted by People. 

Cox explained that she is a big supporter of her daughter's self-expression, no matter what form it takes — as it happens, makeup and hair dying are two things that Coco has taken an interest in. "People will say, 'Why do you let Coco wear so much makeup?' She's been wearing makeup forever, that is a self-expression for her," Cox said. "She loves to dress up. She will dye her hair, it was purple a week ago, I think right now it's blonde underneath before it was blue." 

Cox went on to say that her daughter changes up her hair color so frequently that, "We've ruined the bathroom 1,000 times." While she's gotten some flack for supporting her daughter's habits, Cox remained steadfast. "I think we just have to let them be themselves with boundaries, of course," she said.

One of the best story arcs on "Friends" was Monica Geller and Chandler Bing's relationship. It was a defining aspect of the show that provided so much comfort, love, and laughter. But, according to the book, "Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show That Defined a Television Era" by Saul Austerlitz, Monica and Chandler weren't initially supposed to get together, and both Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry were hesitant about their characters' union at first.

Per People, the idea of Monica and Chandler coupling up was suggested in Season 2 as more of a "fun plotline, good for a few episodes before the status quo snapped back into place." But there was a lot of hesitation on the writers' parts: Given that the two characters were so close, they benched the idea. 

Executive producer Scott Silveri told Vulture that they started to take "baby steps" toward Monica and Chandler's relationship, and by the time Cox and Perry were on board with the idea, it was a go. "Because of the way we eased into it, we sort of greased the machine," Silveri said. The rest, of course, is history.

There are few episodes of "Friends" that really hit like "The One with All the Thanksgivings," and if you're a fan of the show, you know exactly what episode we're talking about. After revealing to Chandler that she was responsible for him losing his pinky toe many Thanksgivings prior, Monica puts a full, raw turkey on her head (adorned with a hat and glasses) to say sorry. Chandler reacts in the best way possible and lets it slip that he loves her — cue the tears.

It's one of the best moments on the show, and if you can believe it, Courteney Cox recreated the "turkey on head look" and posted it on Instagram. "Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope you're having a great day. I'm feeling so thankful, and also, if I get one more goddamn GIF with that turkey on my head dancing like a f***king fool, I'm just gonna snap," Cox said in the post. But to make things that much better, Cox wrapped her head in plastic and towels and then put a full raw turkey over her face. It was an iconic recreation that took a lot of dedication.

Co-parenting doesn't sound like an easy thing to do, but Courteney Cox and her ex-husband, David Arquette, seem to have figured out a good solution. The two share a daughter, Coco, and throughout their time apart, have learned how to work together in their daughter's best interest. As Cox put it in the new documentary, "You Cannot Kill David Arquette," (via Yahoo Entertainment), "We met on 'Scream 1,' hated each other on 'Scream 2,' got married on 'Scream 3' and divorced on 'Scream 4.'" And, in the process, they learned how to work as a team.

Arquette told Yahoo Entertainment that he and Cox are "friends" and that they've kept in contact a lot throughout their lives because of their child. "There's a lot of emotions and feelings. We've just had — not an easy time with it, we've just been really open and supportive of each other," Arquette said. He went on to reveal that he and Cox "never went head-to-head," nor did they find it necessary to go to war with each other over their divorce. The way that they've handled themselves has "made for a friendship and relationship that is out of respect," according to Arquette. Love to see it.

"You can spill ... in the sink," is probably the best line from "Friends" that describes Monica Geller. She is the undisputed queen of clean and is, perhaps, one of the most organized characters on television (despite her junk closet, that is). Her neat-freak ways even prompted Phoebe to move out, because in her words, she needed to live in a land where she could spill. But, as noted by People, Courteney Cox isn't too far off from her iconic character, as she has quite the knack for organization herself. 

Cox took to Instagram and shared footage of her immaculately organized kitchen, saying, "Tell me you're a Monica without telling me you're a Monica." What was in Cox's kitchen that made it look so appealing? Well, first and foremost, she had designated spaces in her drawers for all her gadgets, like her corkscrew and can opener. Secondly, she had a drawer designated for spices, and each spice jar was sorted into beautifully labeled jars. Last, but certainly not least, were Cox's perfectly-organized pantry containers. While Cox is surely different than her iconic character, one thing is for sure — Monica's cleanliness is contagious.

"Friends" is so iconic that it's hard sometimes to separate the actors from the characters. Courteney Cox's Monica Geller was so authentic — the neat freak was lovable, a smidge crazy, but, above all, she was dedicated and loyal. So, as far as being creatively challenged is concerned, Cox looked for roles very different from Geller after "Friends" came to an end. She told Elle that her role of Lucy on the series "Dirt" was "simply a response to playing Monica for [10] seasons." "Monica was such a mothering character. After that I wanted to do something really different," Cox said. 

The actress even revealed that she had to work to convince director Wes Craven that she was fiery enough to play the role of Gale Weathers in "Scream," given her reputation and performance as Geller. "Monica is very girl next door. She's sweet. She might have been annoying, but she was sweet," Cox said. Though we all love Monica, we certainly understand her desire to branch out.

Courteney Cox revealed to Elle in 2015 that she was getting "a little anxious" about her career — she didn't really have a ton on the horizon at that point, but the circumstance gave her an opportunity to reflect on her acting process. "Every time I read a script I'm surprised at how I just don't relate at all," she said. "I'm very specific." 

Of course, Cox's ability to identify what projects she wants to be a part of versus not is why she has been so successful throughout her career. Her ability to recognize meaningful projects even led her into the realm of directing, a part of her trajectory that she categorized as freeing. "I think I get to express myself more in directing than I have [in acting]," Cox said. "I've had a nice career. I've been lucky to have been on successful television series that have spanned for 16 years." 

We're lucky, too, because Cox has continued to give us stellar performance after stellar performance — with plenty more to come. "I have more roles to play. I'm not done yet," she said.