Courteney Cox’s fans have been expressing their shock that the Friends actress will be turning 60 next year, with many of them praising her youthful looks on social media.
She recently celebrated her 59th birthday with a dinner at Soho House in Malibu with her BFF Jennifer Aniston and some girlfriends. Courteney kept things low-key, but acknowledged a sweet tribute from co-star Jennifer, 54, on Instagram which called her “the most generous of humans”.
And now insiders say that Courteney is adamant that she and fiancé Johnny McDaid – who have been dating for nearly 10 years – will tie the knot before her big milestone birthday.
The source tells Closer, “Things are great between Courteney and Johnny, but his commitment-phobia has been the elephant in the room for so many years now. Courteney’s getting tired of this ‘will they, won’t they’ narrative that’s been hanging over their heads because Johnny won’t follow through with his promises. He must have promised to marry Courteney a dozen times, then he’ll flake out at the last minute and find a reason to postpone it, only for the same thing to happen again.
“Courteney has said she wants the whole nine yards before she turns 60. It’s down to him to finally say yes and put a ring on it, or she’ll have no choice but to move on and draw a line under it. She loves him, but enough’s enough.”
Johnny, 47, and Courteney went on their first date back in September 2013, after being introduced by mutual friend Ed Sheeran. The pair kept things private at first, but they soon started attending events together and, by April 2014, the Snow Patrol singer had moved into Courteney’s Californian home.
In June 2014, Courteney announced their engagement on social media, later revealing that Johnny had popped the question at her 50th birthday party.
The duo’s romance came after Courteney’s divorce from actor David Arquette in 2013, following their separation three years earlier, with David later hinting in an interview that it was due to his immaturity. Courteney and David, 51, met on the set of Scream before tying the knot on 12 June 1999. The pair have remained good friends since their split, however, co-parenting Coco, 19, and continuing to run their production company, Coquette Productions, together.
While Johnny and Courteney are loved-up and solid now, they briefly split in 2015, calling off their engagement after disagreeing over where to live, with Courteney wanting to stay in LA, while Ireland-born Johnny was keen to return to the UK. However, the pair soon reunited and were living together again.
Now a source says, “Part of it all is that Courteney never got over Johnny calling off their first engagement. That’s still a major sore point and the only thing that will ever heal that for her is Johnny following through on his promise to marry her.
“Another factor in all of this is the age gap. She gets pretty insecure about that and worries that he’s going to get lured away by a younger woman – not that there’s any suggestion he would. Having a ring on her finger and being Mrs McDaid would go a long way to easing that insecurity for her, and she’s done pretending otherwise.”
Many of Courteney’s pals, however, are urging her not to put too much pressure on Johnny, with an insider adding, “Some of Courteney’s friends think that she’s being a little silly, needing to get married when they’ve been together for so long, and she has been married before. They’re saying she should forget about tying the knot and just enjoy being happy with Johnny, because aside from this issue, things are pretty great between them both. Their attraction is still red hot and it’s pretty obvious to everybody that they love each other dearly.
“It would certainly be easier if Courteney could take her friends’ advice and chill out about the whole marriage thing, but she just can’t let it go.”