Courteney Cox went to therapy to save her relationship. One minute in, her fiancé dropped a bombshell.

For over 10 years now Courteney Cox and Snow Patrol frontman Johnny McDaid have been in a relationship, and they appear very loved up at red carpet events and on social media. 

But this week, the Friends star opened up about the time she and McDaid split in 2015, saying: "I was in so much pain."

The pair had decided to embark on couples therapy together, after going through a romantic rough patch. Cox said she anticipated they were attending therapy together to strengthen and continue the relationship. McDaid, now 47, had other ideas.

"We broke up, and it was really intense. We broke up in therapy," 59-year-old Cox recounted on the Minnie Questions With Minnie Driver podcast. 

"I didn't know it was coming. He just broke up within the first minute. And I was like, what? We were engaged and I was so shocked. I was in so much pain."

Watch: Courteney Cox on Running Wild With Bear Grylls. Post continues below.

She continued: "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."

Following the temporary breakup, Cox explained that they "worked" on themselves and their boundaries separately, before then reuniting. 

"When we got back together, it was a different relationship, but also because it really taught me how I operated in the world," she noted.

"What were the things from my childhood that I needed? Like whether it was to be adored by men or things that I didn't know how to let go to be in a relationship. To not take things personally, my boundaries. I just went into myself and I had a great therapist."

This isn't the first time Cox has spoken about their temporary spilt.

In 2016 when she appeared on the show Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Cox said: "I definitely have learned a lot, and no matter what, I will be a better person from that breakup."

The pair first met at a star-studded house party Cox hosted in 2013, and she was properly introduced to McDaid via their mutual friend Ed Sheeran. 

By May 2013, Cox's divorce from Scream actor David Arquette was finalised.

In June 2014, Cox and McDaid announced they were engaged. 

Cox shared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that McDaid had proposed at Cox's 50th birthday party at close friend Jennifer Aniston's house. She also said that her fiancé had asked her daughter, Coco, for approval before he got down on one knee. 

"He said, 'I'd like to marry your mum' and gave her a little diamond ring. She said, 'Great, I'm going to camp tomorrow. Let's do it right now'."

"They made a plan to count down from three, and when they got to one, he was gonna get down on his knee and say, 'Will you marry me?' and she was gonna say, 'Will you marry him?' They planned it out, they found the perfect tree, with three branches that led to one trunk — it was just beautiful," recalled Cox.

Soon afterwards though in 2015, the couple decided to call off the engagement, and they briefly split for a few months.

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Since reuniting in 2016, Cox and McDaid have been vocal about the strength of their relationship, though the duo have decided not to get re-engaged.

"[He's] a great listener. And I've never met someone more patient," Cox told PEOPLE in 2022. "He's a great advice-giver. I love his heart, his intentions. His morals. He's extremely talented and obviously musical, but he's a poet and a writer. He's just so smart, and I find that really sexy. And then he is gorgeous."

Cox posts regular photos of them together on her Instagram, including tribute posts for anniversaries and birthdays. McDaid also has Cox's initials tattooed on his wrist.

McDaid has previously said about his partner: "I know that I've never loved like I love this woman. So if that's enough, then that's enough. My thoughts are never without Court. She's my best friend. She's my partner, in everything. When I write her poems, it's just an extension of how I feel every second anyway."

Feature Image: Instagram/@courteneycoxofficial

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