Courteney Cox can breathe a sigh of relief. The actress, 57, known for playing Monica Geller on “Friends,” has finally gotten an Emmy nomination for the series — 17 years after its finale.
Until now, every other “Friends” cast member had received at least one nomination from the Television Academy for achievements in acting. The NBC series received 62 Primetime Emmy nominations during its 10-year-long run.
This year, the HBO Max “Friends: The Reunion” special is up for four golden statuettes, including Best Special, Pre-Recorded. Because Cox served as a producer on the special, alongside the rest of her former castmates and the show’s creators, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, Cox is technically nominated in that category.
Cox celebrated the win by sharing the announcement on Instagram and crediting her castmates.
“The one where we are incredibly grateful to the Academy for this honor and especially thankful for @mrbenwinston and his entire team for their outstanding achievement,” she wrote on Tuesday.
Cox’s female co-stars on “Friends,” Lisa Kudrow, 57, and Jennifer Aniston, 52, have both gotten multiple nominations for the sitcom and each won, Kudrow for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and Aniston for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. All three of her male co-stars received at least one nomination for the comedy series.
Cox said on “The Howard Stern Show” last month that watching all of her castmates receive nominations “definitely hurt my feelings.” “I was happy for everybody, and then when it was finally like, ‘Oh, I’m the only one,’ it hurt,” she said.
Despite the award show not recognizing Cox’s talent, the actress was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2010 as well as several other awards for her leading role in ABC’s “Cougar Town” as Jules Cobb, a divorced suburban wine-mom. Cox said being nominated helped soften the blow.
“The only thing that made me feel good — because they’ve all won and they’ve gotten so many accolades — I got nominated for ‘Cougar Town’ the first year — a Golden Globe,” she told Howard Stern. “And I want to say, ‘Oh, who cares?’ [But] it meant everything to me.”
!["Friends: The Reunion" was adored by die-hard fans of the original show.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/courteney-cox-emmy-03.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
She said that she stills gets excited seeing her former castmates working on their own projects.
“I want them to win,” Cox said. “I just sometimes want to be included in certain things.”
“Friends: The Reunion” was adored by die-hard fans of the original show. The hour-and-44-minute special features the six lead actors reminiscing about scenes along with a re-creation of one of the episode’s iconic trivia games. They also bring on celebrities and fans alike to share how much the show has impacted the world. Insider reported that there were more HBO Max sign-ups in anticipation of the special than for any of the streaming services’ Warner Bros. new movies in 2021.
Fans of “Friends” can root for television’s most beloved clean freak during the award show on Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS.