David Arquette reveals he was intimidated by ex-wife Courteney Cox's fame

Many famous women, from Angelina Jolie and Keira Knightley to Madonna and Rihanna, have revealed that being more famous than their romantic partners, especially when their partners are cishet men, often leads to conflict. Namely, men can often feel intimidated by a successful woman. Now, Scream star David Arquette is revealing that he, too, suffered a blow to his ego when he was married to ex-wife and Friends mega-star Courteney Cox.

During an appearance on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, host Andy Cohen asked the Never Been Kissed star if he ever felt “inferior” to Courteney, whom he met on the set of Scream in 1996. "Yeah, absolutely. It's difficult,” he admitted. “I have some of the traditional male things where I want to like, you know, provide and pick up the cheque and, you know, be the breadwinner.”

He continued, “In the acting world, in general, you're always going on this roller coaster of popularity and not able to get a job. So it's like this weird thing.”

“And then, when you're comparing yourself to someone who's at the top of the television iconic world, it's kind of hard to put yourself there," he added.

David later added that during their marriage, they had to do a lot of “learning” to be able to get through the “pain, and like arguments, or, you know, ego.”

He described that learning curve as having “to do with the way you’re taking things, the way you’re saying things, the way you’re responding to things, the way you’re, you know, allowing other, sort of, outside influences affect how you feel about yourself.”

David, who is currently married to Christina McLarty, said working on his confidence helped him deal with the fragility of his male ego, adding, “working out some of the pain and trauma that I had so that I could open up and own sort of what makes me happy, what my needs are, where my boundaries are.”

Courteney, who is dating singer Johnny McDaid, and David share a daughter Coco Riley Arquette, and Friends fans might remember that after their 1999 marriage, Courteney added Arquette to her last name in the show’s opening credits. David still gushes that they “had a really great thing at the end.”

 “I just encourage people to truly try to work it out.”

While they split in 2010 and divorced two years later, the ex-partners and co-parents have maintained a friendly relationship, even gleefully co-starring together in the Scream series of movies since their divorce 

Meanwhile, both David and Courteney fans are reacting to the news with a bit of side-eye.

Meanwhile, others praise him for owning up to his insecurities and working on them.