Ever since Courteney Cox and David Arquette split up in 2010, I’ve pretty much thought the “reason” CC wanted the divorce was because she already had something with a jumpoff, her Cougar Town costar Brian Van Holt. There were some sketchy photos of Courteney and Brian together before CC and David ever formally ended their marriage (although CC later claimed that they were separated). And soon after David and CC really did publicly split, CC cozied up to Van Holt in a big way, although most of that was in 2010-2011. I kind of thought the relationship fizzled out and since she never confirmed anything, there was no need to confirm the split.
But a weird thing happened. CC’s public line has been that she’s been “celibate” since her divorce and she has “not had a man since David … No guy has asked me out… Right now, I’m not quite ready to date. I’m getting closer … as things become more final in my life with David.” She said that in February of last year. Which makes this Us Weekly story simply bizarre:
Courteney Cox has turned her onscreen ex into an offscreen love. The actress, 49, is officially dating her Cougar Town costar Brian Van Holt, who plays her ex-husband on the TBS series, the new issue of Us Weekly reveals.
“They’ve been going out for about six months,” one insider tells Us of the couple, who have been linked off and on since Cox split from actor David Arquette in 2010. (Arquette once told Howard Stern that his ex and Van Holt were having “an emotional affair.”)
The source adds that Cox is more comfortable taking her relationship with Van Holt out in the open now that Arquette has moved on with girlfriend Christina McLarty. Proof? On July 10, the costars “acted like boyfriend and girlfriend” during dinner at West Hollywood’s Chi Lin, a witness tells Us.
Van Holt is also tight with Cox’s pals and, more importantly, with her daughter. “The girl was extremely comfortable with Brian,” an onlooker says of Coco, 9, who visited the Cougar Town set last fall. “She treated him like a dad or an uncle.”
Van Holt has been close to Coco for years now – Brian, Courteney and Coco vacationed together the first Christmas after she filed for divorce. So, I don’t really buy that they’ve been going out “for about six months”. I think – realistically – they’ve been off-and-on for the better part of three years. And I don’t really understand why CC is creating this unnecessary drama either. It’s not like anyone really cares that much about her love life at this point. She’s not Jennifer Aniston, you know? Speaking of, I don’t think they’re friends anymore. Well, they’re not BFFs anymore. Chelsea Handler usurped CC. That’s the real story!
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
I don’t see how she’s creating drama – it was U.S. Weekly that reported her having dinner. It’s not like she’s making out with him in public or anything.
But I agree that it was silly of her to go on and on about being celibate and all that. There are other ways to dodge the dating question without outright lying like that.
On July 10, the costars “acted like boyfriend and girlfriend” during dinner at West Hollywood’s Chi Lin, a witness tells Us.
Us Weekly can predict the future now? July 10th hasn’t happened yet. Somebody is playing fast and loose with reality and/or the space-time continuum.
LOL, I didn’t even pick up on that. I assume it was a misprint and they meant June, although it is a pretty glaring error!
Maybe they took a trip in the TARDIS.
Good for her, but I wish she would stop doing extreme things to her face.
Yes she is starting to look uber weird
Yeah, some Hollywood people trade age for scary oddness, where age would actually look better. Jamie Lee Curtis comes to mind. She looks older, but still attractive.
Right on, Kiddo
I agree about their “friendship” being the bigger story. But I sure the line will be people don’t have to be friend forever and they drift apart. Thing is up until Courteney and David split she and Aniston were together all the time. All 3 of them infact. And per Jennifer she would spend every weekend at their home.
Something happened and that to me is the real story. Plus I have not seen an actual picture of them together in what 3 years. And never any group shots of Courteney with Handler.
That’s the story I would like to know.
They must still be friendly because Courtney recently did that mini Friends reunion when Jennifer co-hosted Ellen.
Word was that Courtney and David saw Brad Pitt at an event 4 or 5 years after Jennifer and Brad split.
Apparently Courtney was friendly in conversation and when Aniston heard about it, she was pissed. As in, REALLY pissed.
Do you think Jen slept with David???
That’s what I was wondering…
I doubt they’re on bad terms at all but I think they went from best friends to friends who get dinner once a year. After all JA wasn’t at CC’s birthday party despite both being in the same state and JA didn’t have a film commitment going on at the time or something like that.
Both Jen and Courtney were at the same event recently and they were not photographed together which I think speaks volumes. I forgot the name of the event but go to Laineygossip and you can find it.
Maybe the relationship with David was so uncomfortable, that she needed another person around as a buffer. You don’t have to spend time with friends, with any specific frequency, in order for the closeness to remain intact. Probably at that time, Jen had less going on with an intimate relationship as well. Much ado about nothing.
The way David spoke it seemed like JenAn was ALWAYS around and that whilst it definitely wasn’t the cause of the divorce it was definitely one of several factors.
He said it had nothing to do with their splitting up. He joked about her being around a lot but said he loved her.
Even close friends drift apart. I see no need to try to create some drama to explain why two people arent as tight as they once were.
Besides I distinctly recall seeing CC in that Ellen clip.
This. Plus, according to radar, they had dinner at Nobu a week ago.
I wonder if Jen, after learning of CC hooking up with her costar, felt she wanted to distance herself. It would be hard for JA to defend CC’s actions based on her history w/Brad and a costar.
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that CC, though she’s behaving questionably aboutthe co-star boyfriend, doesn’t exactly run in the same social circle JA runs in, or the same types of activities. CC hangs with the Hollywood moms, while JA parties in Mexico with Chelsea Handler. Jennifer Aniston parties HARD.
Sometimes friends just drift apart for a while. I have extremely close friends who I used to be inseparable with who I barely see these days. But we are still close and we’ll pick up the phone, or catch up and it will be straight back to the way it used to be. Especially when you live in different cities, it’s easy for a bit of drift to set in!
I always wondered though if CC was pissed at that thinly veiled comment JA made in an interview about her friends getting too much plastic surgery and having to pretend not to be horrified when they show you their crazy lips and to say “oh yeah babe, they look totally natural” (or something to that effect).
Penny caaaan.
Seriously though I actually really like CC despite what she’s doing to her face. I also think I like her even more now she’s not always seen out with JenAn.
Yaaaassss, penny can! Totally agree with the rest of your sentiments!
Maybe CC thinks celibacy means not eating carbs or fat or protein… and she’s confusing it with sex?!
True, maybe all the botox has addled her brain, poor thing.
she looks like Janice Dickinson in that last photo. wTF is she doing to her face?
That was the first thought I had too!
Yes. Janice Dickinson. That’s it. I couldn’t place who she resembled. So sad.
Thought the same!
You all may know how I love Jennifer…um..but I love Courteney more. Team CC!!!
When David and she first split weren’t all the rumours about her hooking up with the other guy from Cougar Town, Josh Hopkins? If there was any truth to that maybe it would explain why this relationship has been a bit cloak and dagger, because it’s all been very messy.
On another note, Courtney’s face makes me so sad now. David might be a mess, but he did seem to ease a lot of Courtney’s insecurities. Since they separated she’s gone absolutely crazy with surgery and injectables. A few more tweaks and she’ll be completely freakish looking even by Hollywood standards.
Josh Hopkins was the one who dated Jennifer Aniston for, like, a month and then he started telling everyone that Aniston was a total nympho.
I hadn’t heard about Josh and Jennifer before. Interesting.
There was definitely a ton of rumours about he and Courtney though. Just did a search to make sure I wasn’t thinking of someone else, and there was a ton of stuff about them right after David and Courtney split (they went on vacation together apparently), and as recent as March this year there was a slew of articles. Maybe he was just providing cover for Brian and Courtney?
Jess — I thought she was hooking up with Josh too. There were always pics of them together.
This is what also confuses me. I distinctly remember seeing pictures of CC and Josh in that not so distant past, in fact there have been rumours about the 2 of them for a years but now she’s with Brian? Maybe you’re right and they were a cover for her and Brian, ridiculous as that seems.
I don’t think it has anything to do with David and everything to do with aging. She would have tweaked no matter who she was with.
Oh who knows for sure with anyone from Hollywood? They all have publicist whose job it is to clean up their clients lives and make it more relatable to us nobodies. Who cares? I think the fact she was with David so long says lots but he is very childlike and that must get old. I think she is an okay stand up person so none of this bothers me. I hope she is dating and I hope she is happy.
I also hope she is dating and happy. I love David A but he has serious substance abuse issues and no spouse should have to go through that nightmare.
I agree that the more interesting story would be what happened with her and Jennifer. I think something had to happen because Jennifer was all under Courtney and David when they were married. Now she’s no where to be found.
Who cares to be honest? She didn’t rush headlong into anything with Brian. He may have been a friend, a companion and now he’s her boyfriend. I think her separation and divorce has been one relatively drama-free and I think that speaks to how much she & David did love and respect each other.
Yeah, I agree with you. Doesn’t Courtney come from a large family? She probably has brothers and is comfortable hanging out with men on a friends basis.
he was the killer in that awful house of wax movie with paris hilton. that is all.
Sometimes you get closer and closer to somebody but it takes awhile before you go ahead and put a label on it. I think that’s probably what happened here.
Frankly, it has to be kind of nice to be with somebody who isn’t simply an overgrown child and you don’t have to be the adult all the time.
Gawd, I sure hope I look like that when I’m 49 (minus all the unfortunate and unnecessary face-altering).
Courtney used to have the most beautiful face. She and Bethenny Frankel both look like the Joker in Batman. Once you put those fillers in, can it ever go back to normal?
She’s been with him and I think was a reason for the split with David but not the main reason. I always wondered why she never went public for years, but I think out of respect for David and for the show, not to draw away from the characters, plus no one trailing her. Plus, maybe they were on and off (she has a kid to focus on and a divorce to go through) and didn’t go public until they came together more solidly as a couple. I don’t know. I’m sure she was out and about at dinners with him and such.
David was such an immature guy, and she sad she was tired of being his mother. I get it. His childlike ways would be exhausting, but he is a sweetheart and that they still love and respect each other says volumes on how to forge a new relationship while divorcing and after divorce.
Courtney is whip-smart and will always be in the business on the producing end. I just wish she would lighten up on the lip injections.
He’s cute. It’s possible their relationship has grown from friendship to something deeper and more passionate.
If she wasn’t having a physical affair with him, she was having an emotional affair and then it went physical.
I say absolutely she was having some sort of affair with him all this time. Women and men do this all the time when there’s problems with their marriages.
Can we talk about her puffy cheeks for a minute? They look good, but definitely fake. Is this a normal way of looking among those who can afford it?