Courteney Cox, Johnny McDaid. Getty Imges (2)
Courteney Cox and Johnny McDaid once walked into therapy as a couple — then left the session broken up.
“So three years in, we broke up, and it was really intense. We broke up in therapy,” Cox, 59, recalled on the Wednesday, April 24, episode of the “Minnie Questions With Minnie Driver” podcast. “I didn’t know it was coming.”
Cox explained that she and McDaid, who have dated off and on since 2013, sought out help for their “boundaries” about what they could and couldn’t accept in their relationship. However, McDaid called it quits with Cox “within the first minute” of their session. Cox said that she was “shocked” by his decision because she and the Snow Patrol member, 47, were engaged at the time.
“I was in so much pain, I also don’t like surprises. And he’s an incredible human being so he wasn’t trying to surprise me,” she reflected. “He was in that much pain in the relationship. There was that much that needed to be dealt with that he had to protect himself around his heart.”
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Instead of being angry about the split, Cox decided that she was going to work on herself. She continued to see that same therapist solo after getting dumped in the professional’s office. After putting her focus on being the best version of herself, Cox and McDaid gave their relationship another shot.
Courteney Cox and Johnny McDaid. RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
“I’m so thankful for that breakup, because when we got back together, it was a different relationship,” Cox shared. “But also because it really taught me how I operated in the world — what were the things from my childhood that I needed. Whether it was to be adored by men. Things that I didn’t know how to let go to be in a relationship. To not take things personally. My boundaries, I just went into myself and I had a great therapist.”
Cox acknowledged it takes a lot of “bravery” to end a relationship that has “a lot of passion” when it is no longer working.
Some couples just need a break every now and then! Click through to see which of your favorites couples — like Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake — couldn’t help splitting and rekindling year after year.
“It’s so much easier to stay and ride things out and make excuses. The fear of pain is too much to handle,” she explained. “Once you are bold enough to make decisions and go through the pain … everything’s easier.”
In September 2023, Cox and McDaid celebrated their 10th anniversary, which they commemorate as the time mutual pal Ed Sheeran first introduced them.
“10 years ago this guy [Sheeran] introduced me to this guy [McDaid],” Cox wrote alongside a video slideshow of photos of her and McDaid’s memories, which included Sheeran, over the years. “Happy anniversary J.”