David Arquette says it was 'difficult' to deal with ex-wife Courteney Cox's Friends fame
David Arquette is opening up about how his ego affected his relationship with ex-wife Courteney Cox.
The actors, who met on the set of 1996's Scream, married in 1999, when Cox was starring in the hit NBC sitcom Friends, which debuted in 1994. In a new interview for SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, Arquette said that during the early years of their marriage, when Cox was at the height of her fame, her success "absolutely" made him feel inferior.
"It's difficult, I mean in terms of, like, I have some of the traditional male things where I want to, like, provide and pick up the check and, you know, be the breadwinner," Arquette said. "In the acting world, in general, you're always going on this roller coaster of popularity and not able to get a job. So it's like this weird thing. And then, when you're comparing yourself to someone who's at the top of the television iconic world, it's kind of hard to put yourself there."
Arquette added that during that time he had "learning" to do to navigate the "pain, arguments," and "ego." Though he allowed "outside influences" to affect how he felt about himself, Arquette said building his confidence helped him work out "some of the pain and trauma that I had so that I could open up and own sort of what makes me happy, what my needs are, where my boundaries are."
Jeff Vespa/WireImage Courteney Cox and David Arquette
"We had a really great thing at the end," Arquette said. "I just think a lot of people, when relationships end and lawyers get involved, they sort of battle a lot of the time and they end up fighting and spending a lot of money… so I just encourage people to truly try to work it out."
Arquette and Cox, who have an 18-year-old daughter, Coco, split in 2010 and filed for divorce two years later. They continue to call each other "best friends" and have reunited in several Scream movies. Arquette even called filming Scream 5 with Cox a "cathartic experience." Arquette wed Christina McLarty in 2015, and Cox has been dating musician Johnny McDaid since 2013.
Watch Arquette's candid chat with Cohen above.
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