David Arquette Admits Dating Ex Courteney Cox at the Height of Her Fame Led to 'Arguments' & 'Ego' Issues

In the late '90s, David Arquette and Courteney Cox were one of Hollywood's hottest couples — but even before the demise of their relationship, the actor struggled with dating the brunette beauty as she rose to superstardom on Friends.

Arquette candidly discussed their relationship during his Thursday, April 27, appearance on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM radio show.

"Did you go through times when she was on Friends where you felt inferior to her or less than based on how successful that show was?" the Bravo boss questioned, to which the dad-of-three, 51, replied with a very honest answer.

"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 check and be the breadwinner and in the acting world in general, you're always going on this rollercoaster of popularity and not [always] able to get a job. So it's like this weird thing."

Arquette said "comparing" himself to Cox, 58, while she was on top of the world took a toll on him.

"There was definitely learning and dealing with that, and a lot of pain and arguments or, you know, ego, early on," he shared.

Cohen asked how the Never Been Kissed star overcame those issues, to which he said he tried to see things from a different perspective and ignore what the public had to say.

"A lot of it has 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," he explained.

"So I think building confidence or focusing on yourself, like working out some of the pain and trauma that I had so that I could open up" helped him, he elaborated.

After marrying in 1999, they welcomed daughter Coco, now 18, but they split in 2010 and finalized their divorce three years later. And though Arquette insisted they "had a really great thing at the end" their relationship took a turn south for a bit.

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

"I just think a lot of people ... when relationships end and lawyers get involved, they really sort of battle a lot of the time and they end up really fighting and spending a lot of money to lawyers where they should be sort of splitting with each other," the actor said. "So I just encourage people to truly try to work it out. A healthy relationship for your child, that's really what it's all about."