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Courteney Cox opens up to Bear Grylls about aging, breakups and regrets

Courteney Cox got unusually candid in the midst of her survivalist adventure on Monday night's "Running Wild With Bear Grylls."
/ Source: TODAY

Opening up publicly about private experiences isn't easy, but compared to zip-lining through the windy, rocky Irish Highlands or noshing on a rotted sheep's carcass, it's not so hard, either.

Maybe that's why Courteney Cox got unusually candid in the midst of her survivalist adventure on Monday night's "Running Wild With Bear Grylls."

The former "Friends" star spoke out about love lost, love found and getting older in an industry that doesn't welcome it.

"I think there's a pressure to maintain (your looks in Hollywood), not just because of fame, but just, you know, being a woman in this business," the 52-year-old actress explained. "Getting older has not been ... I don't think it's the easiest thing. But I have learned lessons."

And the biggest lesson has been to allow herself to age gracefully.

RELATED: Courteney Cox directs daughter Coco, 12, in new music video

"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," she said. "'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 that's good, because it's not always been my best look. Now I just have a new motto: 'Just let it be.'"

Courteney Cox, David Arquette
Actors Courteney Cox and David Arquette arrive at the premiere of The Weinstein Company's \"Scream 4\" Presented by AXE Shower held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on April 11, 2011 in Hollywood, California.Getty Images

That realization is especially important to her as the mother of a 12-year-old girl, Coco, whom she described as "a combination between me and (David Arquette), for sure."

Cox and Arquette were married for 11 years before they separated and later went on to divorce, and she told Grylls, it was a split like no other.

RELATED: Courteney Cox: My 10-year-old daughter wants to be my wedding planner

"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," she explained. "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."

But she added, "As divorces go, I would say it's one of the better ones, for sure. We're good co-parents together."

Courteney Cox, Johnny McDaid
Actor Courteney Cox and musician Johnny McDaid attend the Los Angeles premiere of New Line Cinema's \"Horrible Bosses 2\" at TCL Chinese Theatre on November 20, 2014 in Hollywood, California.Getty Images

As for her current romance, with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid, they briefly went their separate ways last year, too. And although that breakup was very different than her divorce, it's been just as enlightening.

“He’s from Ireland, and the way he regards love is precious," Cox said. "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.”

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