Courteney Cox Opens Up About Aging: 'I Have Done Things That I Regret'

Actress Courteney Cox was in for quite the ride when she signed up for NBC's “Running Wild with Bear Grylls.”

The journey proved to be challenging and emotional as the pair trekked across the Irish Highlands, and Cox opened up about the pressures of Hollywood, her divorce from David Arquette, and the ups and downs of her relationship with Johnny McDaid.

Speaking candidly about criticism over her looks, Courteney told Bear, "I think there's a pressure to maintain [your looks], not just because of fame, but just, you know, being a woman in this business. Getting older has not been... I don't think it's the easiest thing. But I have learned lessons.”

She continued, “You know, I think I was trying to keep up with getting older, trying to chase that... you know, it's something you can't keep up with. So, the more you relax into it and the less I try... 'cause sometimes you find yourself trying and then you look at a picture of yourself and go, 'Oh, God.' Like, you look horrible. I have done things that I regret, and luckily they're things that dissolve and go away. So, um, that's good, because it's not always been my best look. So, now I just have a new motto: 'Just let it be.'"

Cox admitted that aging isn't all bad. "There are certain parts about getting older that are fantastic. Just watching my daughter [Coco] go through, you know, the game of life... I see so much of myself in her, and I'm glad that... I've been through it, and learned enough now to actually help her go through things that are hard... I just have a great time with her."

Later, she called Coco a combination of her and ex David Arquette. When Grylls asked about their 2011 split, she explained, "I think that we were such good friends. We found ourselves leading separate lives and just coexisting and being great friends, but not having the intimacy that... is so important in a relationship. I think you really need to work in a relationship, and I think that we tried. We're just really different, too. I'm the polar opposite of him. That can be great for a lot of things, but I need this kind of real, one-on-one connection. And I don't know. I don't know."

The “Scream” star went on, "It wasn't a dramatic ending. It was more of a... just, I don't know. I've really been... No one's ever asked me in this way, so I haven't really thought about it like this. I mean, as divorces go, I would say it's one of the better ones. For sure. We're good co-parents together."

Courteney has since moved on with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid, however the pair did break off their engagement last year. "We were engaged for over a year and then we broke up,” she said. “There's something about... you know, he's from Ireland. And the way he regards love is precious. We have to treat it in a different way. It's more special. You coddle it. So, I didn't know how to regard love the way he does. And it definitely made a lot of mistakes that I see, whether it's co-dependency or people-pleasing. I didn't know how to bring it in. It was always external. I definitely have learned a lot, and no matter what, I will be a better person from that breakup, even though it was so brutal."

The couple has reunited and they are in a better place now. "It's just... everything's new. And we have both really worked on ourselves on the parts that needed the most attention. And it feels really different."