"There was a period where I went, ‘I’ve got to stop. That’s just crazy.'"
There was a time when Courteney Cox relied heavily on cosmetic procedures to keep her looking young, but not anymore.
The 57-year-old "Friends" star opens up about why she chose to go under the knife and what made her stop, during an interview with the UK's Sunday Times Style magazine, ahead of the launch of her new comedy-horror TV show, Shining Vale.
Cox said there was a phase where she wasn't able to accept the fact that she was getting older, which meant that she wasn't going to look 20 forever, per CNN.
"There was a time when you go, 'Oh, I'm changing. I'm looking older.' And I tried to chase that [youthfulness] for years," she said. "And I didn't realize that, oh sh*t, I'm actually looking really strange with injections and doing stuff to my face that I would never do now."
She added: “People would talk about me, I think. But there was a period where I went, ‘I’ve got to stop. That’s just crazy.’ ”
The Scream actor also spoke about how public scrutiny isn't too kind on aging actors, either. "The scrutiny is intense, but I don't know if it could be more intense than what I put on myself."
She then revealed that while she no longer goes under the knife, she is more than ready to try just about any beauty product.
But for Cox, youth is more of a feeling than a date on the calendar. “I feel like I’m young,” Cox said. “I have a lot of friends in their thirties, and I don’t think about it. To me, we’re the same age, until I actually study it.”
However, the actor is soon going to turn 60 and that's something she's trying to come to terms with. "Oh God, it's so hard to even hear or say. I can't believe it. There's nothing wrong with being 60, I just can't believe it. Time goes so fast," she said. "There's no question that I am more grounded, I've learned so much in my life -- what to enjoy, what to try to do more of, and what to let go of."
As for her character in Shining Vale, where she plays the role of a depressed erotic novelist who moves from New York City to rural Connecticut with family, Cox said it was a fun experience for her. "It was exciting to play a character that was so flawed and real," Cox said: "The fact that she's going through this midlife crisis slash menopause."
The pressure on actors to look their absolute best is massive, but it's always more on the women because they feel they will lose out on roles if they age. Thankfully, people and their outlooks are changing, and it will hopefully get to a point where people are cast in roles based on their skills and not their looks.
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/courteney-cox-cosmetic-procedures-scli-intl/index.html
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Rich Fury
