Real-Life Celebrity Breakup: Courteney Cox and Michael Keaton

If it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then any photograph taken of the notoriously private Courteney Cox and Michael Keaton out and about, together as a couple, must now be worth a considerable fortune.

How Did Courteney Cox and Michael Keaton Meet?

Cox had long-admired Keaton’s performing prowess and she was especially impressed by his dramatic turn in the Glen Gordon Caron-directed film Clean and Sober. She was eventually able to meet the acting giant in 1989, thanks to a friend that they had in common.

The first date was held at Cox’s apartment and the former Friends’ star remembered that “we talked for five hours. We talked about our dream homes — the great ones we’d seen and the kind we’d like to build ourselves.”

Despite the 13-year age difference, the pair found themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. Continued Cox, “We were sympathetic on so many levels. If something weird happened, we would turn to each other and just say, ‘I know.'”

Shrouded In Secrecy 
And thus began a nearly six-year relationship. Individually, Cox and Keaton were intensely private people and that primal instinct for self-protection extended to their coupledom as well.

Rare was the opportunity for photographers to snap a shot of the two together and even rarer was the chance that one of them would broach the topic during an interview. According to Cox, “The thing is, if you talk to the press about your lover or your relationship, it’s out there. It’s way too much for both parties to live up to.”

But despite the duo’s “no comment” policy, the tabloids had a field day covering every up and down that that two experienced — whether real, verifiable or otherwise. At one point, it was announced that Keaton, worried Cox was succumbing to the charms of Ace Ventura co-star Jim Carrey, stormed the set, and proposed marriage.

However, the far juicier — and truthful — story was that the two were temporarily separated at the time of the so-called engagement. That “break” was typical for the on-again, off-again, on-again pair.

In response to the rumor and a question about her actual plans for marriage, Cox candidly admitted, “We really do need to make a decision about that to do. It’s tough. Our lifestyles are very different. It really seems like they should be the same because we’re both in the same business, but it’s not.”

Cox continued, “Part of it is that he’s got a kid and we just have different personalities… I’m very impulsive, and he’s not quite as impulsive as I am about making decisions.”

Courteney Cox and Michael Keaton Call It Quits – For Good

And it was most certainly those above mentioned “differences” that lead Cox to finally put an end to the romance in July of 1995, nearly six years after it first began. But no one except the actress herself really knows for sure — and even she seemed vague about her reasoning. “Nothing about our relationship was ever simple.”

But there were two facts that she was certain of at the time. “It’s the most important relationship I’ve ever had, and I think he’s the most wonderful person I’ve ever met.”