Courteney Cox Reveals It’s ‘Difficult’ Calling Her Longtime Love Johnny McDaid Her ‘Partner’

Even though Courteney Cox and her longtime love, Johnny McDaid, were engaged back in 2015, called it off, and then got back together a year later, she recently told Jimmy Kimmel that she feels uncomfortable referring to Johnny as her “partner” because where Courteney comes from, the word “partner” can have a different meaning.

“He’s my partner. That’s what he calls it, my partner. And I’m from Alabama, so you don’t really say partner unless you’re in the same sex,” the 54-year-old actress explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “He’s my guy, he’s my one, but saying partner’s difficult for me.”

Courteney recalled a time when someone thought that she was in a same-sex relationship because she didn’t make it clear that she was seeing Johnny. “I was in Atlanta not that long ago and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to meet my partner in section F,’ and they were like, ‘Oh, I’m sure she’s going to be there, don’t worry about it,’” Courteney explained. “Not that it matters, but it’s just a different way to speak.”

Labels have never been something that Courteney and Johnny have been comfortable with. When the couple previously attended the Irish Arts Center Spirit of Ireland Gala in NYC in October 2018, the event stated that Courteney was there with her husband. Johnny later clarified to People that the words “husband” or “wife” are just “a label” to them. At the time, Courteney added that she and Johnny were “not married” but said that she’s “married in my heart.”

“She’s my best friend. She’s my partner, in everything,” Johnny shared about the Friends alum. “When I write her poems, it’s just an extension of how I feel every second anyway, and that’s true for me.” In a previous interview with People, Johnny also said, “I don’t know if you can put a label on what makes us work, but I know that I’ve never loved like I love this woman, so if that’s enough, then that’s enough.”