Courteney Cox regrets chasing the fountain of youth.
The “Friends” alumnus gave a wide-ranging interview to NewBeauty about Hollywood’s obsession with staying young and how it led her to make poor choices with her own looks.
“I grew up thinking that appearance was the most important thing. That’s kind of sad because it got me in trouble. I was trying so hard to keep up, and I actually made things worse,” she explained, noting that doctors would often pressure her to nip and tuck here and there.
“Well, what would end up happening is that you go to a doctor who would say, ‘You look great, but what would help is a little injection here or filler there.’ So you walk out and you don’t look so bad and you think, no one noticed — it’s good. Then somebody tells you about another doctor: ‘This person’s amazing. They do this person who looks so natural.’ You meet them and they say, ‘You should just do this.'”
With so many outside opinions, Cox, 53, no longer looked like herself.
“The next thing you know, you’re layered and layered and layered. You have no idea because it’s gradual until you go, ‘Oh s–t, this doesn’t look right.’ And it’s worse in pictures than in real life,” Cox said. “I have one friend who was like, ‘Whoa, no more!’ I thought, I haven’t done anything in six months. I didn’t realize.”
Other friends told her differently, assuring her that she looked good, but eventually, she had had enough.
“I’ve had all my fillers dissolved. I’m as natural as I can be. I feel better because I look like myself. I think that I now look more like the person that I was,” Cox added. “I hope I do. Things are going to change. Everything’s going to drop. I was trying to make it not drop, but that made me look fake. You need movement in your face, especially if you have thin skin like I do. Those aren’t wrinkles — they’re smile lines. I’ve had to learn to embrace movement and realize that fillers are not my friend.”