Courteney Cox admits she has done things she 'regrets' to look younger

Women in the public eye are trapped in a catch-22 situation.

After taking measures to preserve their youth in a bid to combat rampant Hollywood ageism, they then find themselves shamed in ‘What has happened to [insert name]’s face?’ headlines.

Courteney Cox, best known for playing the hyper-organised, feisty and mothering character Monica Geller in Friends, has described her regret at succumbing to ageism and the effect of that scrutiny.

While trekking through the hills of rainy Ireland for Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Cox told the adventurer she has now adopted an approach of simply letting nature take its course after a constant battle against ageing led her making decisions about her appearance which she later regretted. The 51-year-old has often found herself the source of speculation as to what procedures she may have had and has previously spoken about getting botox.

“I think there’s a pressure, not necessarily because of fame, but just being a woman in this business,” she said. “Getting older is not the easiest thing but I have learned lessons.

“I think I was trying to keep up with getting older and trying to chase that and it’s something you can’t keep up […] because sometimes you find yourself trying and you look at a picture of yourself and go ‘Oh god, I look horrible’.”

“I have done things that I regret and luckily there are things that dissolve and go away and that’s good because it’s not always been my best look so now I just have a new motto just: ‘Let it be’.”

Cox joins a number of women speaking out about the unrealistic and unfair standards placed on women in the public eye. Her good friend and former Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston penned an essay calling out the historic speculation over her body and fertility.

“I am not pregnant. I’m fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily under the guise of ‘journalism’," she wrote.

Similarly, another woman whose face has long been the fascination of tabloids, Renee Zellwegger, wrote a scathing response to the speculation over whether she has had cosmetic surgery.

“The ‘eye surgery’ tabloid story did not matter, but it became the catalyst for my inclusion in subsequent legitimate news stories about self-acceptance and women succumbing to social pressures to look and age a certain way,” she wrote.