Jennifer Aniston did not have any easy childhood.
In the November issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine the 56-year-old actress revealed that her parents John Aniston and Nancy Dow had a nasty divorce.
And the future movie icon became a ‘pawn’ as the two were focused on getting even with each other during the especially contentious time.
The Friends actress pointed out that back then, parents did not really know how to look out for their kids during divorce as it was a different era.
The perennial ‘it’ girl of Hollywood was only nine years old at the time.
‘Their divorce was not amicable in any way, shape or form, and it was a time when there wasn’t a lot of awareness of how to behave for the sake of the kid,’ Jennifer Aniston recalled.
‘That was the least of [my parents’] worries – it was more, how could they hurt each other? And I was just a pawn.’
That led to her having to go to therapy; in another section of the interview Jennifer Aniston noted that she has had a lot of therapy in her life and it is what has prevented her from going into ‘rages.’
The star also shared that mother and father were ‘ridiculously funny people’ and that she was ‘around a lot of laughter.’
Comedy became a source of comfort to her: initially to watch on television, and later as her acting specialism.
She enrolled in a dedicated performing-arts school in Manhattan, then auditioned liked crazy. Friends in 1994 then changed her life.
‘There’s something about the chemistry of the cast that made for a lightning-in-a-bottle moment,’ she reflected, ‘and that just happened to get caught on camera.’
Also in her HB interview she touched on ageism: ‘The societal idea of an expiration date just doesn’t exist anymore – it’s an old ideology.
‘We’re here and we’re more than half the population… and would any of you schmucks be here if it weren’t for us anyway?’
The Morning Show actress added, ‘The wisdom older women have to contribute is quite extraordinary, and it’s one of the areas where we’ve seen genuine progress in the film world.’
Aniston also revealed she endured a 20-year secret battle to have a baby.
The Friends icon talked about the false narrative that she didn’t want to become a mother because she’s a ‘selfish workaholic’.
She said: ‘They didn’t know my story, or what I’d been going through over the past 20 years to try to pursue a family, because I don’t go out there and tell them my medical woes.
‘That’s not anybody’s business. But there comes a point when you can’t not hear it – the narrative about how I won’t have a baby, won’t have a family, because I’m selfish, a workaholic.
‘It does affect me – I’m just a human being. We’re all human beings. That’s why I thought, “What the hell?”’
However, the older Jennifer gets, the less she feels the need to ‘correct a false narrative’.
She explained: ‘The news cycle is so fast, it just goes away.
‘Of course, there are times when I feel that sense of justice – when something has been said that isn’t true and I need to right the wrong.
‘And then I think, do I really? My family knows my truth, my friends know my truth.’
Jennifer was married to actor Brad Pitt from 2000-2005. They split after he met actress Angelina Jolie on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
In 2022, Jennifer tragically revealed she had unsuccessfully tried IVF – and admitted she wished she had frozen her eggs years earlier.
‘It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,’ Jennifer said at the time.
‘My late 30s, 40s, I’d gone through really hard sh[*]t, and if it wasn’t for going through that, I would’ve never become who I was meant to be. I was trying to get pregnant.
‘All the years and years and years of speculation… It was really hard. I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it.
‘I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, “Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.” You just don’t think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed. But I have zero regrets.’
Jennifer was aged 35 when she split from Brad and previously said the suggestion he left her because she wouldn’t give him a child was an ‘absolute lie’. Brad went on to have has six children with Angelina. Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. The eldest three are adopted and the youngest three are their biological children.
They announced their split in 2016 after a now-infamous private plane incident in which Angelina accused Brad of being abusive toward her and the children. Brad is thought to now have ‘virtually no contact with them’.
Meanwhile, Jennifer went on to marry actor Justin Theroux in 2015 when she was aged 46. But theirs wasn’t to be a lasting romance. They divorced just three years later.