David Arquette opened up about being married to ex-wife Courteney Cox during the height of her "Friends" fame.
During an appearance on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM radio show, the 51-year-old actor admitted that he felt "inferior" to the 58-year-old actress when she starred on the mega-hit sitcom.
"Yeah, absolutely. It's difficult," Arquette said. "I have some of the traditional male things where I want to, like, you know, provide and pick up the check and, you know, be the breadwinner."
He continued, "In the acting world in general, you're always going on this rollercoaster of popularity and, you know, not able to get a job, so it's like this weird thing.
DAVID ARQUETTE REMINISCES ON FILMING ‘SCREAM’ WITH COURTENEY COX: ‘I GOT A BABY OUT OF IT’
"And then when you're, you know, comparing yourself to someone who's at the, you know, top of the television, iconic world, it's kinda hard to put yourself there, so there was definitely, like, learning and dealing with that and a lot of pain and, you know, arguments or, you know, ego, early on."
When Cohen asked how the pair dealt with their marital struggles, Arquette explained that improving communication and building self-esteem was key.
"A lot of it has to do with, you know, the way you're taking things, the way you're saying things, the way you're responding to things, the way you're, you know, allowing other sort of outside influences affect how you feel about yourself, so I think, like, building confidence or just, you know, focusing on yourself, like, working out some of the pain and trauma that I had so that I could open up, like, you know, and own sort of what makes me happy, what my needs are, where my boundaries are," the Virginia native said.
The former couple fell in love after meeting on the set of the 1996 slasher film "Scream," in which Cox played ambitious reporter Gale Weathers and Arquette portrayed kind-hearted Deputy Sheriff Dewey Riley. The duo reprised their roles in 1997's "Scream 2," 2000's "Scream 3" and 2011's "Scream 4."
After they began dating, Arquette made a cameo appearance on an episode of "Friends." Cox played Monica Geller throughout the show's run from 1994 to 2004. The pair announced their engagement in 1998 and tied the knot in 1999. They welcomed their only child, daughter Coco, in June 2004, a month after the "Friends" series finale aired.
In 2010, the two announced that they had agreed to a trial separation after 11 years of marriage. The pair filed for divorce on the same day in 2012, with both citing irreconcilable differences and requesting joint custody of Coco. Their divorce was finalized in 2013.
Arquette and Cox have maintained a friendly relationship since their split. In a 2013 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," the "Cougar Town" alum said that Arquette was her "best friend in the world," adding, "I love him."
In 2020, Arquette told "Entertainment Tonight," "We’re co-parents to our daughter who’s 16, so we have a really great relationship." The two also reunited on-screen in 2022's "Scream 5."
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Arquette married entertainment reporter Christina McLarty in 2015. The couple share sons Charlie, 9, and Augustus, 6. Cox has been in a relationship with Snow Patrol singer Johnny McDaid since 2013.
During his appearance on "Radio Andy," Arquette reflected on the amicable end of his marriage to Cox and offered advice for other parents when going through a divorce.
"We had a really great thing at the end," the "Eight-Legged Freaks" star said. "I just think a lot of people end up, when relationships end and lawyers get involved, they really sort of battle a lot of the time, and they end up really fighting and spending a lot of money to lawyers where they should be sort of splitting with each other, so I just encourage people to really try to work it out so that you have a healthy relationship for your child — that's what it's really all about."
