Courteney Cox Says She Experiences ‘Jealousy’ as She Gets Older

Courteney Cox is reflecting on experiencing feelings of jealousy as she gets older.

On the latest episode of the Minnie Questions podcast, the Friends alum, 59, opened up to Minnie Driver about the quality she doesn’t appreciate about herself.

“The thing I like least about myself would be any feelings of jealousy,” she shared. “Whether you can feel replaced or whether it’s… I think just jealousy is such a horrible emotion to have, and I have that sometimes.” 

“I get jealous or afraid, whether it’s because I’m getting older and I can’t stay in the game, or it could be about anything, but anytime I feel jealous, I can’t stand it,” she continued. “I will talk to my therapist and go, ‘I just hate this feeling.'”

Driver, 54, noted that she often thinks about feelings of jealousy being tied to “a lover” but knows “that feeling of being replaced” is “a pertinent one,” despite it not being true.

Cox then clarified, “I know when you step back, of course, you’re not replaceable, but it’s that feeling that can come up for me, whether it’s through friendships or like you said, relationships or in work.”

The Homecourt founder recently opened up about finding more confidence as she ages.

“As I’m getting older, I do take more chances and I realize that I just go for things more. I’m more ambitious,” the actress said at Marie Claire’s Power Play event last month, where she was interviewed by the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Nikki Ogunnaike.

“I think you value your time and also, you want to do everything you can,” Cox, who turns 60 in June, explained. “At least, that’s the way I feel. The fear that I don’t have anymore is if I don’t want to do something, I can ask myself an honest question: ‘Do I want to do this? Or am I doing it for someone else?’”

Cox then explained that she doesn’t worry anymore about saying no. 

“I think later in life, which is where I am now, if I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to,” the Shining Vale star said. “I’m not mean or short, I just say, ‘I can’t make it. But thank you and please invite me again.’ Because you never know. Oh my God, please invite me always!”

As Cox explained, “We all spend a lot of time going, ‘God, if I don’t go to that, will they ever invite me again? And was it the best time in the whole world? And I’m not there, and then I don’t get to experience that? But I don’t really want to go. But…’ God, the battle and then not wanting to hurt someone.”

When Ogunnaike asked her, “How do you see or define ambition at this stage in your life, in your career?” Cox replied that she’s trying to do more — not less.

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“I think that I have so many things that I want to be better at,” Cox noted in her response. “My ambition is realizing that you can. I do so much. I play the piano. I play tennis. I love cooking. That was something I learned to do during lockdown. Having this business, directing, acting, I think that I just am more ambitious because I care more, so, I am less lazy.”

Cox continued, “If I’m not busy, that’s when I get lazy. If I’m not busy, then I get nothing done. But you give me a million things to do and I’ll do ’em all. So, I just think as I get older, I realize why not do all of it and try really hard.”