Courteney Cox says her partner Johnny McDaid once broke up with her during therapy

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Courteney Cox’s longtime partner Johnny McDaid once broke up with her in a therapy session.

This happened about five years ago, Cox said on the “Minnie Questions with Minnie Driver” podcast. The “Friends” star and the Snow Patrol rocker were engaged at the time.

“So three years in, we broke up and it was really intense. We broke into therapy,” she said. “I didn’t know it was coming, whether I should have come or not.”

They were supposed to discuss the boundaries of their relationship, but instead they broke it off.

“He broke down in the first minute. And I was like, what? We were engaged and I was very surprised. I was in a lot of pain,” she said. “He wasn’t trying to surprise me. He was in a lot of pain in the relationship.

She added, “There was a lot that needed to be dealt with that she had to protect herself around her heart.”

Cox said she began working on herself during the split, adding that she “learned to reclaim my voice, my boundaries.” What were my objectives in life? Like, what was my role in this?”

He also described McDaid’s decision as brave.

“It takes a lot of bravery to end something you’re so passionate about, or to end anything,” he said. “Any kind of relationship. It’s very easy to just stop and put things off and make excuses and, you know, the fear of pain is very difficult to handle. But once you are courageous enough to take the decision and go through the pain, you cannot avoid it.

Cox now says she’s grateful that it happened, because it was better when they reunited as a couple.

“When we got back together, it was a different relationship, but also because it really taught me how to function in the world,” she said.

“What were the things from childhood that I needed? Like whether it was being liked by men or things I didn’t know how to let go of in order to stay in a relationship. Not taking things personally, I have boundaries,” she said. “I just went out on my own and I had a great therapist.”

Cox and McDaid went public as a couple in 2013 and got engaged nine months later.

In late 2015, it was announced that they had broken off their engagement. In 2016, they re-united as partners.