There are no regrets: Courteney Cox
Sara Hall

NEW YORK—She may have been luckier in love than her best Friend Jennifer Aniston, but when it comes to the future with husband and fellow actor David Arquette, the actress takes nothing for granted. Elaine Lipworth has more. Courteney Cox IS late for our interview at Coquette, the West Hollywood production company she runs with her husband, actor David Arquette, which gives me the chance to have a good look around. Courteney, who dreamed of being an architect when she was growing up (and studied it at university before dropping out to start modelling), is responsible for the interior design.
Provocative modern art hangs on the walls, along with vintage movie posters, such as Fellini’s 1954 film La Strada and Sean Connery as 007 in Dr No. There’s a bubble-gum dispenser, a giant model of an old Kodak Instamatic camera and a whimsical family of cast-iron ducks waddling across a counter top. The actress, who made her name as control-freak Monica in Friends, is full of apologies when she arrives. ‘I’m so sorry to keep you waiting,’ she says huskily, explaining that she - has a cold. I admire her watch, a rose gold Rolex with a black face, ‘a present from David’, and the necklace she’s fingering, ‘rose gold with diamonds and a shark’s tooth, a gift to myself,’ she laughs.
She’s in high spirits, despite her cold. ‘I’ve just closed a deal to do a TV comedy _called Cougar Town,’ she says. ‘I play a 40-year-old divorcée from Florida who’s attracted to younger men and has a teenage son.’ As well as starring, she will also be executive producer. Her last show, Dirt, in which she played a tabloid editor, was cancelled, but she doesn’t seem unduly concerned. ‘It was fantastic because my character was completely different from Monica, so I was able to show a different side of myself.’
I had heard that the female Friends have become wary of press intrusion and reluctant to reveal anything about themselves. So it’s a relief to discover that Courteney is forthright and open; nothing is off limits, including her four-year-old daughter Coco, who was conceived after a series of miscarriages and gruelling fertility treatment. ‘I can’t imagine life without a child; I don’t even remember what it was like four years ago. Coco is everything to me,’ she says.
‘We did a lot of in vitro fertilisation, and it was tough. But we’d waited a few years before trying, and in retrospect I would say: don’t wait as long as I did, especially if you want more than one child.’ Courteney is even willing to put the record straight on internet rumours about plastic surgery. Now 44, she looks younger, but there are lines around the eyes. ‘I’ve done Botox,’ she admits, ‘and there were times when I thought, “That was nice”, but I had one bad experience when I wasn’t able to move my face for two or three months.’
Will she do it again? ‘I don’t know,’ is her candid reply. ‘I’m sure I’ll be tempted when I get older, but you see too many people who look really strange.’ She adds that David, who’s seven years younger, doesn’t think she needs any improvement. ‘He loves the ageing process; he thinks it’s beautiful. Right now, I don’t do Botox - or anything except this,’ she says, pointing to a cabinet of creams and serums by Kinerase, the American skincare company for which she’s spokesperson.
She settles at her desk, in front of her silver MacBook with a cup of Chinese herbal tea, and gestures for me to sit opposite. Although she’s warm, there is a brisk efficiency about her. Born into an affluent family in Birmingham, Alabama, she worked as a model before getting her big break in 1984 when Bruce Springsteen plucked her from a crowd of extras to star in his music video for ‘Dancing in the Dark’. Film roles followed, notably Ace Ventura: Pet Detective with Jim Carrey.
Then came Friends, the show that defined a generation and brought her fame and wealth. Along with her co-stars (to whom she is still close), Courteney earned $1 million an episode during the final season. She admits that it’s a challenge to reinvent a career after a decade playing such a distinctive character, but there are no regrets. ‘I wouldn’t be sitting in this office if it wasn’t for Friends. It’s given me opportunities I would never have had and freedom financially.’
Does motherhood mean her career has taking a back seat? ‘Not at all, because until Coco starts school I can take her everywhere I go for work. She came with me to Mexico at four weeks old, she’s been to New York ten times.’ In fact, her daughter (who’s at nursery school this afternoon) is rarely out of her sight for more than a couple of hours. Coco is the main reason for Courteney’s appearance in the spectacular Disney blockbuster Bedtime Stories, with Adam Sandler.
‘I was so excited to be part of a movie I can watch with Coco,’ she says. Courteney plays Sandler’s sister Wendy. ‘She is a headmistress whose school closes. She has to look for a new job, and there’s no one to look after her two children except her hotel-handyman brother Skeeter (Sandler).’ As Skeeter (with Russell Brand as his sidekick) regales his niece and nephew with elaborate fantasies of dragon-slayers, knights in armour and damsels in distress, the stories start to come true and the children find themselves transported in time and space. ‘It’s a wonderful family film, a fairy tale for everyone.’