Johnny McDaid was almost not Courteney Cox's lobster.
The Friends alum is opening up about her decade-long romance with the Snow Patrol rocker, revealing that their months-long separation that ended their engagement in 2015 came after he abruptly broke up with her during a couple's therapy session.
"We went to this therapist to talk about our boundaries, what we could and couldn't accept about each other," Cox said on the April 24 episode of Minnie Driver's podcast Minnie Questions. "Instead, he just broke up—within in the first minute. And I was like, 'What?' We were engaged and I was so shocked. I was in so much pain. I also don't like surprises."
She noted that the temporary split ultimately helped her in her relationship with herself. "I did the most work on myself, by far," the 59-year-old said. "I learned how to reclaim my voice, my boundaries."
So, in retrospect, Cox is actually "so thankful" for her and McDaid's brief split.
"When we got back together, it was a different relationship," she explained. "But also because it really taught me how I operated in the world. What were the things from my childhood that I needed, like, whether it was to be adored by men, things I didn't know how to let go to be in a relationship. To not take things personally. My boundaries."
Cox—who shares daughter Coco, 19, with ex-husband David Arquette—has previously reflected on her and McDaid's reconciliation and how it strengthened their relationship.
"He's not my fiancé. We were engaged to be married, but now we're just together," she shared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2019. "We broke off our engagement and he moved to England. Then we got back together, and it's actually better than it was before."
Cox continued, "I think the distance after that breakup—we were apart for six months—that really showed us a lot. It's just better."
And they have continued to celebrate their life together. The Scream actress marked 10 years of dating McDaid, 47, last September with a montage of them over the years—as well as a cameo from Ed Sheeran who introduced them in 2013. As she marveled in her caption, "10 years!!!"
Look back at Cox and McDaid's cutest moments over the years: