For more than ten years, they were one of the most interesting couples in Hollywood. Some of the biggest pop songs of the last ten years were written with Northern Irish songwriter Johnny McDaid and Courteney Cox, who is known to many as Monica Geller. They seemed to have figured out something that most long-distance relationships never do. Then they didn’t at the end of last year. There are already rumors that Johnny McDaid has a new girlfriend, just a few weeks after their breakup became public.
Naturally, the timing has made some people wonder. One of Ed Sheeran’s closest collaborators, McDaid, 49, was born in Derry and is best known as a member of Snow Patrol. He is said to be in the early stages of a new relationship. Not much is known about it yet—no name has been confirmed and no photos have been shared—but the fact that it was brought up so soon after the Cox split was confirmed has given the story its own quiet momentum.
It’s possible that Cox and McDaid’s relationship had been ending for a lot longer than what the public record shows. Though The Mail on Sunday said they were no longer together in late June 2026, sources close to the couple said they had actually broken up late last year, so months had passed before the news came out. In that light, McDaid leaving isn’t quite the storm it might seem. Endings are dealt with by different people at different times and not always in public.
Friends of the ex-couple were careful to use kind words when talking about the breakup. They said that the breakup was completely friendly. Over the course of thirteen years, they built something real, but their schedules changed over time. Cox lived in Los Angeles, while McDaid mostly lived in London and sometimes went back to Ireland. In that situation, a certain kind of quiet distance builds up, and over time, it becomes the relationship itself.
Cox and McDaid met for the first time in late 2013 through a connection they had with Ed Sheeran. They said they were getting married in June 2014, but they broke up for a short time in 2015 before getting back together in 2016. Cox has been open about that first break, saying that she was thankful for it in the end because it made what they built after it stronger. When people are that strong, the ending usually feels more important, not less. Their past splits showed that they could get back together. It looks like they decided not to try this time.
McDaid’s career has kept going strong the whole time. Snow Patrol just finished a big UK tour this summer, with stops at Eden Sessions in Cornwall, Liverpool, Crystal Palace Park, and Edinburgh Castle. Last year, they played Glastonbury. When he joined the band in 2011, it felt like home. Now it feels like home more than ever. Shape of You, Photograph, Bad Habits, and Galway Girl are just a few of the songs she has written. This is enough to define most careers several times over.
The only things that are known about McDaid’s new girlfriend are that she exists, the relationship is new, and no one around him seems to care. Somehow, this seems like the normal way for someone who has been known for being thoughtful and private during a very public relationship to move on. He doesn’t try to get attention. Sometimes he writes songs on stage in front of thousands of people. Other times, he writes songs in rooms with other people. He’s never really seemed to be happy in the middle, in the tabloid relationship cycle.
Cox, on the other hand, has been seen in New York and seems to be handling her own next chapter with the same calmness. She stays close to David Arquette, her ex-husband, and raises their daughter Coco together. The pattern shows that she handles changes better than most people, no matter what her life looks like in the future.
No matter who McDaid’s new girlfriend is, she’s joining a story that has a lot of history behind it. No one outside the situation can really say if that history is important or if it’s just background noise while two people figure something new out.
