Young cougar Courteney Cox

Mar 31, 2010, 12:26 GMT

Courteney Cox-Arquette is a lot younger than most of her husband's ex-lovers.

The 45-year-old actress claims spouse David Arquette - who, at 38, is seven years younger than her - has always adored older women and most of his previous partners were a lot older than she is.

Discussing what her husband thinks about her being a "cougar", the nickname given to older women who dates younger men, she explained: "He loves it! Let me tell you, I'm young compared to some people he's dated - he likes older women. Always has.

"I don't have a problem with cougars. My husband David is much younger than me, so I've been blazing that trail for over 10 years. To me, it's just someone who dates younger men, so who cares?"

'Cougar Town' star Courteney - who has five-year-old daughter Coco with her husband - believes a lot of men are attracted to older women because they know what they want and don't play mind games.

She added to Stylist magazine: "I used to think a cougar was a woman who had lots of plastic surgery, who was trying to look younger, and dating what she thought was her contemporary even though she was so much older. Now I just think it's a woman who's confident, who uses her confidence to date younger guys. There are a lot of men who actually are more attracted to older women because there's no game-playing. I know that's true of my husband."

While Courteney doesn't mind getting older, she doesn't think this would be the case if she was single.

She added: "I am happy being 45. I'm lucky, I'm married to someone who is not judgemental about ageing at all. But it would be really scary if I wasn't married and had to go back out there."