David Arquette Proposed to Courteney Cox in the Boldest Way

Who: SAG-winning and Golden Globe-nominated actress and producer Courteney Cox, 55, and Daytime Emmy-nominated actor and producer David Arquette, 48.

How They Met: Cox and Arquette met on the set of Scream in 1996, where, according to Cox, they “fell in love” — she also says they “hated each other” while filming the second installment in 1997.

Arquette said he "tricked" the actress into dating him. "Was it love at first sight? For me it was, but not for her," he said. "I had to trick her. We met at a pre-party before we started filming Scream. I was being a little cocky and Courteney was like, 'Ah, I've heard of you,' and we just kept flirting for a while. She's just so gorgeous and she jokes around so much."

Arquette popped the question in 1998, boldly asking “Courteney Cox Arquette” if she’d marry him. The pair wed the following year at a star-studded ceremony in San Francisco before 250 guests (all the Friends were there, as was plus-one Brad Pitt, Arquette’s sister Patricia, and her husband Nicolas Cage).

Why We Loved Them: As the pair’s Scream director Wes Craven told People, Cox and Arquette were a classic rom-com (or horror film?) case of “opposites attract.” Of course, this would cause problems later on, but their differences were initially complementary.

When They Peaked: We love that Arquette was able to own up to the mistakes he made in his relationship with Cox — like encouraging her to adopt a “Bettie Page look” …

The Breakup: Though Cox had previously said “divorce is not an option” — her and Arquette’s wedding rings were engraved with “deal’s a deal,” because “marriage is hard and have to kind of make a deal, otherwise it’s too easy to get out” — the pair announced their separation in 2010.

Soon after, Arquette opened up about the split to Howard Stern (and his millions of listeners), revealing that he’d been “begging” Cox to get back together with him.

Arquette explained that the breakup was due in part to his unpredictable antics. He said that Cox told him, “I don’t want to be your mother anymore” (cue Jennifer Lopez’s “Ain’t Your Mama”). "She tries to take on everybody's problems. She's the mother to everyone. That's why she doesn't want to be the mother to me anymore," Arquette clarified.

The following year, Cox and Arquette shared a joint interview with Howard Stern where she detailed an incident indicative of the “problems” in their relationship. “Whenever I would need consoling from David, he could not literally put his arm around me for one second without completely getting a boner," she said.

Cox also delved into their differences, explaining, “There are a lot of things that David likes to do completely the opposite things I do … I don't want to inhibit him in his life. He really is a very gregarious guy, he's very outgoing. I'm much more of an introvert."

The pair officially filed for divorce in 2012.

In 2016, Cox extrapolated on her comments in a conversation with Bear Grylls, telling the Running Wild personality that she and Arquette “found ourselves living separate lives and just coexisting and being great friends, but not having the intimacy that is so important in a relationship. I think you really need to work in a relationship, and I think that we tried. We’re just really different, too. I’m the polar opposite of him. And that can be great for a lot of things, but I need this kind of real, one-on-one connection.”

Divorce notwithstanding, the pair is committed to co-parenting their 15-year-old daughter, Coco. “We just respect each other,” Arquette said of himself and Cox. “No matter what people go through, you still have a child together. When you love someone, you want them to be happy, even if it’s not with you.”

Where They Are Now:

Arquette wed journalist Christina McLarty in 2015. They share two sons together: Charlie West, 5, and Augustus Alexis, 2.

The actor has several projects in the works, including a feature alongside Lisa Edelstein.

Cox has been dating Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid on and off since 2013.

The Friends star was most recently seen as the host of Facebook Watch pregnancy docuseries 9 Months with Courteney Cox.