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Home , Busy Philipps, Christa Miller, Cougar Town, Cougar Town (season 1), Cougar Town (season 2), Cougar Town (season 3)

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66 more.com | february 2014 Blipp this page to see—and hear—Cox behind the scenes of the More shoot. CC

welcome to town it’s a placeCourteney where divorce can be amicable, work is collaborative and friendships are lifelong. How , the inspiringly grounded star of , cultivates C closeness both onscreen and off | BY MARGOT DOUGHERTY

phoTOGraphed by simon emmett styled by jonny lichtenstein seeming utterly relaxed as she or- “I think he got the idea that I’m not a ders a glass of Cabernet. pain in the ass and am actually fun to Cox is currently entertaining audi- work with.” Shortly thereafter, Law- ences on Cougar Town, the TBS rence invited Cox and Coquette, the she stars in, produces and occasion- production company she owns with ally directs. Her character, Jules, is her ex-husband, , onto the leader of a pack of who live the Cougar Town bus. on a Florida cul-de-sac. She began the To create Jules, Lawrence spent show as the recently divorced mother time observing Cox, attending the of an 18-year-old, dating again after Sunday-night dinners she has hosted 20 years of marriage. Now, five sea- for friends and family for about 25 C sons in, Jules is married to her former years. “He was getting to know the neighbor and surrounded by hilari- weird parts of me that he could write ous, idiosyncratic sidekicks played about,” she says. “He said he came to by, among others, and my house one time and I poured the , whose husband, Bill wineglass so full, he could barely walk Courteney Cox makes an unexpected Lawrence, is the show’s cocreator. to the table.” So Jules is prone to drink- stop en route to her table at the Polo After the 2008 cancellation of Dirt, ing red wine from a goblet the size of Lounge in Beverly Hills. Dressed down the FX series in which Cox played a a child’s head. “Part of a comedy writ- in black jeans and a gray long-sleeve hard-bitten tabloid-magazine editor, er’s job is to write edgy, snarky people T-shirt, she’s nonetheless spotted by she was looking for another show to giving each other shit,” says Lawrence, Ca diner who jumps from his seat to of- produce as well as star in. “I’ve been do- who, with Miller, has become close fer his services as a branding agent— ing this too long and have too strong an friends with Cox. “But if you’re doing presumably promising to make her opinion not to be a producer,” she says. a show for Courteney, the characters more famous than she already is. Cox, She zeroed in on Lawrence, creator of have to inherently love and want to kill gracious, listens to the pitch, accepts , a co­creator of and a or die for each other. Mean and vindic- a business card and finally takes her writer on Friends. “I really wanted to tive don’t wear well on her.” seat. “ThatC was weird,” she says. work with him,” she says. “But I don’t But it’s probably not the most in- think he was that interested in the be- she WASN’T the kind of girl anyone pre- trusive moment the actress has ex- ginning.” He wasn’t. “Sometimes when dicted would be a TV star—or even an perienced. Having played Michael J. you work with a big-name actor or ac- actress, for that matter. “Out of all 21 Fox’s girlfriend on , the tress, they become your boss in a way,” first cousins,” she says, “I was the one obsessively organized Monica on says Lawrence. “I liked Courteney, and who just sat with my grandmother Friends and the ambitious reporter I didn’t want to wreck our friendship.” and played with her elbow skin. I was in the movies, Cox is unlikely Lawrence, who already had the idea ­really shy.” The youngest of four (after to ever go unnoticed. The Alabama- for Cougar Town, asked Cox to do an her parents divorced and remarried, born star, 49, has had decades to ab- arc on Scrubs, giving her a role as a she gained nine stepsiblings), she grew ; TAILOR: DAVID HERSHBERGER AT LARS NORD STUDIO; PRODUCER: TRICIA SHERMAN FOR BAUERFEIND PRODUCTIONS-WEST HERSHBERGER AT DAVID clm ; TAILOR: : j uliet ernigan at sorb the vagaries of fame and takes soulless chief of medicine who loses in- up in a suburb of Birmingham and was, them in stride, arriving without an terest in patients when their insurance by her assessment, a good kid: “I was

assistant, let alone a retinue, and runs out. “That went well,” says Cox. so open, I’d tell my mom everything. NAILING HOLLYWOOD; AT FOR SHESWAI DEBBIE LEAVITT HARLOR FOR LANCÔME; MANICURIST: SALLY MAKEUP: GENEVIEVE AT STARWORKSARTISTS.COM; HAIR: ADIR ABERGEL AT prop stylist

19871984 19871991–89 19931994

“Dancing in the Family Ties Ace Ventura: Dark” video “I’m reminded of Pet Detective “I was petrified. how funny Michael “I went on location J. Fox is. He could for the first time. and Bruce Spring- turn one joke into It felt like the steen had the flu. three separate beginning of me But that’s not why laughs just by his becoming my own I was scared. I liked pauses.” person. Bruce, but I was was amazing.” more into Earth, Wind & Fire.”

68 more.com | february 2014 She’d say, ‘That’s too much informa- ‘Listen, you guys, I did a guest thing boyfriend and girlfriend?’ I thought, tion. I don’t want to know!’ But I didn’t on , and over there they all Really? It seems a little soon.” Maybe want to sneak. My whole thing is that help each other. They say, “Hey, try not: In 1999, between and 3, I don’t want to not tell the truth. So if this. It may be funnier.” So if you think they married. Cox, who has been can- I was going to smoke cigarettes, I did of anything that could make it fun- did about her miscarriages and in vi-

: : it in front of her.” nier for me, let me know.’ This was so tro fertilization, gave birth to their Cox went to Mount Vernon College freeing.” And so began one of the most daughter, Coco, five years later. “She to study architecture. “It was the only rabidly watched ensemble shows on has my eyebrows,” Cox says, “although school I could get into—my mom’s television; its finale in 2004, at which I think David’s dad has them, too, kind school,” she says with characteristic point the stars were making $1 million of arched. She has David’s color eyes frankness. “Testing is not my forte. an episode, drew more than 52.5 mil- but my mouth. She’s got David’s feet— Those ACTs were a real bummer. But lion viewers. The cast— little flat feet with cute Barney Rubble I love architecture and I love design. So (who will appear on Cougar Town this toes. She’s a good combination.” that’s what I thought I was going to do.” season), and Matt Last May, Cox and Arquette, who The summer after her first year, she LeBlanc, along with Jennifer Anis- has been open about his alcoholism, went to New York to try to make some ton, Kudrow and Cox—was as tight off divorced. (He is now expecting a child money by modeling and wound up on camera as on. “There was nothing but with his girlfriend, Christina McLarty, the covers of Tiger Beat and Young Miss. “I thought, Well, this is great. I’ll go back to col- lege after I do this for a little bit,” she says. Instead, she got “I think success is defined by doing what you love commercials, including one for to do. If you’re happy doing it, I think you’re successful. Tampax in which she became I’m definitely happy doing what I’m doing.” the first person to say “period” (in that context) in a TV ad. Brian de Palma cast her as the girl pulled from the crowd by Bruce goodwill,” says Kudrow. “There was an entertainment reporter.) Asked how Springsteen in his 1984 “Dancing in never any competition from anybody. they managed to stay friends, Cox the Dark” video. Family Ties and a And I really think Courteney set that pauses and her eyes fill. “Because we few movies—including Ace Ventura: tone of ‘We’re all in this together.’ ” love each other,” she says. “And when Pet Detective, opposite Jim Carrey—­ you love someone, you want them to led to Friends, the juggernaut that it was on the set of 1996’s Scream that be happy, even if it’s not with you. You launched in 1994. Cox, inaugurating her recurring role can love somebody so much, but it’s not When the sitcom was cast, “Courte- as , met Arquette, who the life you should be living together. I ney was the only one of us who was fa- played the goofy Deputy Dewey. “I had think David and I are supposed to be mous,” remembers , who such a crush on him,” she says. “Da- the way we are now.” Still, she reflects, recently had Cox do an improv bit as vid came out of the womb wanting to “in divorce you always have regrets. We a psychic on her offbeat comedy Web be in a relationship, and pretty much were married for a long time, so it’s not

, from left TELEVISION/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION; © BUREAU L.A. COLLECTION/SYGMA/CORBIS. this page WIREIMAGE; © PARAMOUNT PHOTOS, opposite , from LEFT: NBC VIA GETTY IMAGES; © IFC FILMS/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION; © FX NETWORK/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION Therapy. “She was the one who said, right away he was like, ‘You want to be like we didn’t try.”

1994–2004 2000 2007–08

Friends Dirt The six cast mem- Cox says of the “The television bers bonded first movie in this series was immediately. As series (which salacious. We Cox remembers it, opened in 1996), were pushing the “We were friends “I met David. We limits. I like right off the bat.” had the best time.” pushing limits.”

february 2014 | more.com 69 By all accounts, the parting was changes,” Cox says. “For Coco, noth- TalhotBlond, about virtual romance without rancor and done with remark- ing changed. I already had a house at gone very wrong. “You get to go to work able grace. Cox was about Coco’s age the beach, and we had a house in town. and be a part of everything you love, ex- (nine) when her own parents divorced, Obviously, kids always want their par- cept you don’t have to put on makeup.” and she and Arquette have made a pri- ents to be together, but as divorces go, She has always been a director of ority of keeping their daughter’s life this is the best one we could provide.” sorts. Despite abandoning formal as unchanged as possible. Cox bought “I joke that if I get divorced, I want architecture studies, Cox, a smart a condo “50 seconds” away from Ar- Courteney to be my ex-wife,” says businesswoman, has been buying, quette’s in Beverly Hills; he has a Philipps, who plays Jules’s verbally restoring, decorating and selling place “four minutes” from her house in uncensored assistant in Cougar Town. homes for years. She’s lived in houses Malibu, and they continue to do things “I’ve seen David at Courteney’s; it’s be- designed by modernist architect together as a family. “They say it’s yond amicable. It’s a really loving way A. Quincy Jones and the legendary harder for children when their lifestyle they’ve managed to separate their Richard Neutra (who also designed lives.” Arquette and Cox, who her office building). is now the spokeswoman for “I’ve been obsessed with design since I Pantene’s AgeDefy line (“It shared a room with my sister,” she says. more really works!”), continue to “I was always changing the furniture questions for do business together under around. I would get so bored with the the Coquette banner. He’s in twin beds facing the same way, so I’d , an indepen- do an L-shape and then have them fac- Courteney Cox dent movie Cox directed dur- ing the corners.” Each house she’s done WHAT DO YOU CHERISH MORE THAN ing her summer hiatus. (“I like has been completely different in taste, ANYTHING ELSE? working under pressure,” she she says. “Once you’ve been in it for a My daughter, Coco. My family, from says. “It suits my personality.”) while, you’ve had fun, you’re done, you my immediate family to my dogs, Starring sell it, and you have a whole new thing. Hopper and Harley; my friends. and Olivia Thirlby, the dra- It’s part of my restlessness. I like change.” THE WORLD COULD USE A LITTLE matic comedy follows a man But as a friend, she’s a constant. MORE . . . who, on the verge of giving “There’s no agenda,” says Kudrow. Empathy. up on life, attempts to tie up “There’s no guile. There’s no game. WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU loose ends. Arquette prompted You can trust her completely and fully. TODAY THAN IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO? writer David Flebotte to show Whether I see Courteney every week The beauty of nature. I just didn’t Cox his script, and she was or once a year, it doesn’t matter. I know appreciate things like I do now. I determined to make it. When who she is, and I know where I stand.” didn’t appreciate flowers when Flebotte’s agents said they Jane Pratt, founding editor of Sassy I was in my twenties—thought they wanted to shop it first, Cox and Jane magazines and now editor- were a waste of money. I’d buy a said to him, “Look, you can sit in-chief of xoJane.com, remembers shirt instead. around, have it go into devel- a dinner with Cox and other friends WHAT’S MORE TERRIFYING THAN opment and wait for the rest of in New York. Pratt was on the heels FAILURE? your life to get this made. But of a miscarriage and breakup. “I was Not trying. cross my heart, I will make it trying to keep it together,” she says, MORE WOMEN SEEK TO AGE GRACE- during my hiatus.” Flebotte “but Courteney could see that some- FULLY. WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE? hesitated. “I called him and thing was wrong, and she called me Buck up. It ain’t easy. Go to the said, ‘Stop being a pussy,’ ” says later and said, ‘If you’re ever going doctor. Drink water. Sleep as much Cox. “ ‘I’m making this movie.’ ” through something hard and you as you can. Exercise. I get As Kudrow points out, “When think you can’t tell anybody, I want to massages—anything for your Courteney wants to do some- be the friend you tell.’ ” Pratt opened circulation. Stretch. It’s all about thing, she does it, no matter if up and at Cox’s urging stayed with her keeping that body moving. there are hurdles or resistance and Arquette in L.A. “for many, many, DESCRIBE A MOMENT IN YOUR or it’s going to be hard.” many weeks.” PAST THAT YOU WISH YOU COULD RE- “There’s absolutely no judgment in LIVE ONE MORE TIME. “Directing is something I want Court,” says Aniston, who talks with Once I’ve done it, I don’t need to to do forever,” says Cox, who Cox daily and sees her once or twice a relive it. I love the memory of it. was also behind the camera week. “You’ll never feel scolded. She’s for the 2012 Lifetime movie extremely fair, ridiculously loyal and

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guests hold hands for grace, which, says Aniston, consists of Cox “pretty much thank- ing everyone.” “The Sunday blessing is something I do,” says Cox. “I think faith is so important. I don’t care what you believe as long as you have some- thing.” Lawrence is less san- guine about the touchy-feely setup (“It’s not the Connect- icut way,” he deadpans) and notes that Miller and his children teasingly scatter to ensure he’s clasping hands “with someone I’ve known for five minutes.” But, he says, “the cool thing is that at the end of the day, Courteney is someone who’s not remotely entitled and hasn’t for one second forgotten how lucky she is to be where she is. And that’s disarmingly charming.” Asked if she’s changed over the years or if her focus has shifted, Cox thinks for a bit. “You know what’s funny?” she says. “I don’t think I have. fiercely loving.” She, too, has leaned on married to Tobey Maguire, was preg- I’ve always had a through-line of who Cox in tough times. “I’ve slept in her nant with their first child, “it was high I am and what’s important to me: hon- guest bedroom a lot,” she says. “With- risk,” she says. “Someone said Courte- esty and integrity. Friends say, ‘Oh, I out giving away too much of my private ney had been through similar things. was so different back in high school’ or stuff, all I can say is she’s been there So we called Courteney and David on ‘I was so different in college.’ I think for me through thick and thin.” speaker. We weren’t really best friends, I’ve always been the same. Different Jennifer Meyer, the owner-designer but we sat on the phone for an hour and circumstances, different opportuni- of an eponymous jewelry line (Cox a half talking about everything I’d been ties, but I’m not different. What was wears a piece in every Cougar Town through. I knew she wouldn’t tell any- important to me at 20 is what’s impor- episode, and each one sells out), has one. It was that day that she became tant to me now.” known Cox for years; her father, one of my best friends.” Ron Meyer, vice chairman of NBC/ For Cox’s Sunday dinners, “there’s margot dougherty’s last More cover Universal, was ’s agent no invitation, no phone call,” says story was about Julia Louis-Dreyfus. when Keaton and Cox dated in the Jennifer. “You know it’s happening Learn how to re-create Courteney Cox’s early . When Jennifer, who is and you’re invited.” Before the meal, shiny waves at more.com/courteney.

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