Courteney Cox: Designing woman – CBS News

Dressed in black on the white sands of Miami Beach, Courteney Cox struck a pose during a recent photo shoot. The camera was focused on her, but she was the one who was hyperfocused. “I always say, ‘I suffer from acute consciousness,’” she said. “I notice things. I can’t help it.” Like her interviewer outfit. “Is that a built-in clamp?” she asked.

It was this attention to detail that partly inspired the renowned “clean freak” to create a new line of scented beauty products for the home called Homecourt. ‘Everything from surface spray, to cleaning your surfaces, your countertops, whatever; it’s hand soap, hand cream, dish soap, air freshener.’

So why a line of cleaning products? “Well, you know, I played that character, Monica,” Cox laughed. “She was a nice person, and guess who else? Me.”

Homecourt is a full-circle moment for the 59-year-old Alabama native. Cox studied design and architecture in college, before deciding to pursue a very different creative career path.

“I moved to New York. I started modeling. I’m only 5’1″ but I did things like book covers. I cut my hair very short. It changed my whole look.”

Next came the first of a few big breaks, when Cox was chosen to appear with Bruce Springsteen in the 1984 music video for “Dancing in the Dark,” directed by Brian De Palma. “I think he hired me because I was authentically nervous and I wasn’t really a good dancer, but I was shy. And it worked,” she said.

It worked out wonderfully, with Cox landing a recurring role on “Family Ties” with Michael J. Fox: “The nicest guy,” she said. “He’s so talented; he taught me so much.”

Then, in 1994, came “Friends,” a show about a group of twenty-somethings in the city… a show that changed everything. “This show, thank God for this show!” Cox laughed. “This was towards the end of when I was really running out of money. I took a test. I went in, read the pilot and said, ‘This is great.’ But you didn’t know how special it was. But when you got this cast and our incredible writers together, it was lightning in a bottle.”

Lightning in a bottle who launched a meteoric career, from the “Scream” film franchise, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “Cougar Town”, to becoming a producer, director and entrepreneur. Through it all, Cox remained herself…caring, sincere, and deeply empathetic.

She is still very close to her co-stars who were with her when it all started. Thirty years after “Friends” premiered and twenty years after the series finale aired, Cox posted on Instagram that she was “forever grateful.”

“I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such wonderful people and to live the life I have now,” she said. “That was my family. I mean, we’ve been through everything. Those ten years were everything — they’re my family.”

One of the members of this family Matthew Perry who played Chandler Bing died last year at 54. Asked what stands out most about him, Cox responded: “I think he’s probably one of the funniest human beings in the world. I worked so closely with him for so many years. He visits me a lot, if we can believe it.”

“I know you are a spiritual person, which makes this statement very interesting,” Vigliotti said. “So, do you still feel his presence?”

“Oh, yeah. You know, I talk to my mom, my dad, Matthew — I feel like there’s a lot of people that, I think, guide us,” Cox said. “I feel, yeah, I feel like Matthew is around, with certainty.”

Friends are always around…. Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow were with Cox as she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Jokingly, Cox couldn’t resist giving it a little polish.

And it’s that shine that she hopes to share with Homecourt. “We don’t think of our home as an extension of us, but it is,” Cox said. “How much time do we spend at home? So why skimp on the things that are so important? I just think people should treat their home the same way. who treat themselves.”

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Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Karen Brenner.