Courteney Cox recalls ‘nerve-wracking’ experience playing piano with Elton John

Courteney Cox has revealed she had a last-minute piano lesson to prepare for a private performance with Sir Elton John.

The Friends star is a close friend of Ed Sheeran, who recently invited the pop veteran over to her home for dinner.

The 57-year-old actress, who played Monica Geller in the NBC sitcom, used lockdown to improve her piano-playing and called her teacher for an impromptu lesson, which finished just as Sir Elton was arriving.

Appearing on The Graham Norton Show, she said: “I learned to play in lockdown but then Ed Sheeran invited Elton John to dinner at my house and suggested we all perform together.

“So I called my piano teacher and 20 minutes later he was walking out as Elton was walking in.

“It was the scariest, most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done, and it was the thrill of my life.”

Cox is friends with chart-topping singer-songwriter Sheeran through her partner, Johnny McDaid, who plays keyboard and guitar in Snow Patrol.

Speaking about reprising her starring role in the new Scream film, she said: “I can’t believe I am in it again and I couldn’t believe they were doing another one, but it’s great – funny, gory and really scary.

“It’s just heightened. Everything in the world changed and it had to keep up – it’s relevant.”

– The Graham Norton Show airs on Friday on BBC One at 10.35pm and is also available on iPlayer.