Friends star Courtney Cox admits she smoked to stay thin

by Angela Johnson. Published Sun 28 Mar 2010 11:31, Last updated: 2010-03-28

Courteney Cox admits her slim physique while starring in Friends was down to her smoking habit.

The actress played high-maintenance Monica Geller in the hit US show, which ended in 2004. Courteney and her female co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow were famed for their svelte physiques, but the 45-year-old insists she wasn’t actually that healthy.

She said: “I never exercised during Friends – I just smoked loads of cigarettes.”

“Now I eat and exercise and, you know, do everything I can.

"I just try a lot harder than I used to.”

Courtney flashes her flesh a lot in her new show Cougar Town, in which she plays a divorcee who starts dating younger guys.

She insists she doesn’t do much the night before a nude scene, and just relies on her ability to tighten her stomach muscles for long periods of time.

“I avoided salt the night before, but I didn’t go on a special diet really.

"I’m not that disciplined. I can’t be – I’m too hungry all the time.

“I just had to suck it in a little tighter!”