Courteney Cox says partner Johnny McDaid broke up with her 1 minute into couple’s therapy session

The "Friends" star and the Snow Patrol musician later rekindled their relationship.

Courteney Cox is reflecting on a difficult chapter in her current relationship.

While speaking with Minnie Driver on the Minnie Questions podcast, the Friends star recounted breaking up with her longtime partner, Snow Patrol musician Johnny McDaid, with whom she’s since reconciled. Cox cited their separation as a challenging experience that ultimately yielded great personal benefits in the long run. “Three years in, we broke up, and it was really intense,” she recalled. “We broke up in therapy. I didn’t know it was coming, whether I should have or not, it was just like, we went to this therapist to talk about our boundaries, what we could and couldn’t accept about each other.”

“Instead, he just broke up within the first minute, and I was like ‘What?’” Cox continued. “We were engaged, and I was so shocked, 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. 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.”

The actress revealed that she continued seeing the same therapist from that fateful day. “I had a great therapist. I went to the same one, I kept seeing him, the one that we’d met on the breakup day,” she said. “It was brutal to go to his office after that for a while, but then it was great. And I’m really thankful a) nothing will ever hurt me that bad again, and then b) most of all, most importantly, I completely changed."

Cox also explained how she used the opportunity for introspection and growth rather than resentment. “As opposed to going ‘f--- him,’ you know, getting in this mode of anger, I went in,” she said. “And I did the most work on myself, by far. I learned how to reclaim my voice, boundaries, what were my motives in life? Like, what was my part in this?"

She said when the couple later got back together, "it was a different relationship" thanks to the work she had done on herself with the help of therapy. "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, or things I didn’t know how to let go [of] to be in a relationship. To not take things personally."

“And I’m thankful that Johnny was so bold and brave, ‘cause it was life-changing for me, and I’m sure for him,” Cox concluded.

Listen to the full conversation between Cox and Driver above.

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