The next generation! David Arquette has been sharing words of wisdom with his and Courteney Cox’s 17-year-old daughter, Coco, as she pursues an acting career of her own.
“She’s really so super talented,” the actor, 50, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, January 13, while promoting Scream. “She’s got so much confidence. … She’s got a really great head on her shoulders and she’s really so much more talented than I could ever imagine. So I just try to tell her, ‘Don’t take rejection personally. It’s a business that is mostly rejection.’”
The Virginia native pushes the teenager to “believe in” herself, he told Us, adding, “If she doesn’t get a part in the school play she was hoping for, I just walk her through it. ‘There will be other stuff to try.’ I try to set the expectation that things like that happen.”
The professional wrestler also lets the teen know that he has “been there” and “understands” what she’s going through. Arquette called the entertainment industry a “roller-coaster,” noting that he tells Coco to “stick with it.”
The athlete’s sister Rosanna Arquette previously warned her niece against following in her parents’ footsteps.
“It’s tough on kids,” the Desperately Seeking Susan star, 62, exclusively told Us at the time. “I think it’s a hard business for adults so, my gosh, you bring kids into it, there are some things that are not appropriate and not OK. … Children have been hurt, and I’m like a mama lion in that sense.”
David, who is also the father of Charlie, 7, and Augustus, 4, shares Coco with his ex-wife, 57. The former couple welcomed their daughter in 2004, eight years ahead of their breakup.
While raising the high school student with the Friends alum, Arquette works to keep “dignity, honor and respect toward” the actress.
The See Spot Run star gushed about Cox’s “incredible partner,” Johnny McDaid, calling his own wife, Christina McLarty, an “amazing” asset to the coparenting process.
“It takes a lot of maturity just to be able to put things into perspective and understand everything that comes along with someone having a child in a different, previous relationship,” Arquette explained to Us on Thursday. “I’m so grateful for her and everything she does for me. … She’s got my back. She’s an incredible mother. She’s just my hero. Having to deal with this is not easy.”
With the exes costarring in the latest Scream, Arquette told Us that they had a “comfortable” reunion on set. “It’s great when you know people really well and you get to act opposite them,” he said of the experience.
Scream is in theaters now.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi