Cox convinces Arquette to check into rehab

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

While two previous interventions by David Arquette’s friends didn’t take, the actor himself finally recognized his serious problem with alcohol — leading him to check into rehab over New Year’s weekend.

Apparently estranged wife Courteney Cox played a major role in convincing Arquette it was the right thing to do — after the actor made several calls to the “Cougar Town” star, described by a source close to Arquette as “very, very weepy. … He was a total mess.”

In a statement, Cox expressed further support for her husband getting the help he needs: “I really admire David and his choice to take charge and better his life. I love and support him.”

† Arquette woke up late on New Year’s Day after yet another wild night of partying in a Los Angeles strip club — where he dropped thousands on lap dances — “and realized he had to get help,” added the source.

† Clearly Arquette’s booze issues have been building for a while. This columnist spent time with the actor in early October in California, just before his separation from Cox went public. At the Windy City West party at Jerrod and R.J. Melman’s Le Grande Orange eatery in Santa Monica, Arquette reeked of alcohol. He was very charming but obviously had been drinking heavily.

MEG’S NEW MAN? In the wake of John Mellencamp’s spokesman confirming the Indiana-based singer and his wife, model Elaine Irwin, were splitting after an 18-year marriage, rumors are swirling the “other woman” may be Meg Ryan.

The actress has been voicing a character in an audio recording of “Ghost Brothers of Darkling County,” the new musical Mellencamp is creating with T Bone Burnett. According to the New York press, Ryan and Mellencamp also have been spied around the Big Apple in recent months, looking very cozy.

Spokesfolks for Ryan and Mellencamp are not commenting on all this.

† According to a neighbor of the Mellencamps in Indiana, “None of this comes as any surprise to us. We haven’t seen John and Elaine together in months.”

SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR: On Dec. 26, 2009, Harry Caray’s CEO Grant DePorter and his wife, Joanna, were lunching at the Montage in Laguna Beach, Calif., when suddenly Adam Sandler waltzed in with his family.

Joanna DePorter was so startled she screamed Sandler’s name — much to the actor’s amusement.

Flash forward to this past Dec. 26, also at the Montage. Exactly while the DePorters were recounting the story to their 2010 lunch guests — Sandler walked in again!

This time Joanna controlled her screaming, but had a good laugh with the funnyman, who said, “Well, I guess I’ll see you again next year!”

THE NEXT MOVE: Lindsay Lohan slightly delayed her departure from the Betty Ford Center, wisely attending a few more counseling classes. Now the actress reportedly has moved into a new home in Venice, Calif. — joined by a couple of fellow recovering addicts and alcoholics, themselves long successful in recovery.

TOGETHER/APART: The long-rumored split of Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis has been confirmed. It’s another example of Hollywood romances collapsing when one partner’s career is soaring and the other’s is going nowhere. Kunis is flying high, thanks to her star turn in “Black Swan,” while Culkin has been “Home Alone” — professionally speaking — for a long time.

SPORTS SHORTS: Before heading to Green Bay, some of the Bears toasted the New Year at Crimson Lounge, including Matt Forte, Devin Hester, Johnny Knox and Henry Melton. ... NASCAR fans were thrilled to spot driver Kurt Busch dining at Harry Caray’s on Kinzie over the New Year’s weekend.