NEW YORK -- Fame, fortune and fans, Courteney Cox almost has it all. Everything, it seems, but a social life.

"I just stay at home," she says matter-of-factly. "I really don't date that much anymore."

Certainly her home alone phase is self-imposed. The co-star of TV's Friends and the movie horror series Scream 1 and 2 is a popular person.

Sometimes the popularity didn't translate in a good way for the former Bruce Springsteen Dancing In The Dark video model and Family Ties co-star.

Trashy media folks followed her with a microscope when she dated Michael Keaton, and then during the aftermath of their breakup a few years ago.

Also, reports that she suffered from anorexia and an obsessive-compulsive disorder generally made her life an annoying hell.

For the time being, the negative exposure seems to be behind her. "Y'know, it put a lot of pressure on a relationship," the 33-year-old insists.

These days, "I'm kind of figuring myself out."

And yes, the personal assessment is being attempted mostly in her newly renovated Santa Monica house, her fifth one in the last eight years.

"It's like a Georgian-Bermuda house. I love the way it looks," she says immodestly. "This one is going to be in Architectural Digest, probably in the spring."

Quite an honor for Cox, who wanted to be an architect and is no stranger to a tool belt and dirty drywall duties. "I do stuff myself when I can't afford to have others do it."

Anyway, the review of personal resources arrives at a good career time for Cox, one of the few from the Friends television family to have a hit film career.

"I think I will be allowed a lot more movie opportunities than I had before," she admits. "And I think I'm ready for them, where I probably wasn't before.

"Y'know, I don't have the relationship and the marriage and the kids that I will eventually want, but that's the way it is."

Then she adds assertively: "For now."

So, this "detail person" is getting her career priorities straight and her life in order.

She nods yes.

But she's quick to point out that she's not suffering from fame phobia and she's not bitter about some of the negative stories dealing with her in the past.

As for fans and her lack of privacy?

"I don't even notice people noticing me," she says chuckling.

"First of all, I really can't see that well, and I don't wear contacts because I hate them.

"I also have blinders on when I walk. I don't stroll anywhere. I walk fast with a purpose."

She laughs almost to herself.

"Maybe that's why I find it hard to meet people and date."


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