Jennifer Aniston explains in a new interview that she was never eager to get married and, at 54, has gained an understanding of why her two marriages to such famously desirable men as Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux didn’t work out.
The “Friends” star also talks about how she’s happy being on her own and offers a straightforward, though perhaps unexpected answer, when asked who keeps her company at night.
“My dog. That’s who I’m sleeping with,” Aniston said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, which covers broad aspects of her career and personal life, including her romantic relationships, according to the Daily Mail.
Aniston said her parents’ troubled marriage and their bitter divorce had a negative impact on her ability to form a long-lasting relationship with anyone. She was married first to Brad Pitt from 2000 until 2005, and then to Justin Theroux from 2015 until 2018.
“It was always a little bit difficult for me in relationships, I think, because I really was kind of alone,” Aniston told the Wall Street Journal.
“I don’t know. My parents, watching my family’s relationship, didn’t make me kind of go, “Oh, I can’t wait to do that,'” Aniston said, explaining why she was never eager to get married herself.
Her parents were actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow. They married in 1965, and the family lived in New York, where the Greek-born John Aniston launched his career as the star of different daytime soap operas, including his 37-year stint playing Victor Kiriakis on the NBC series “Days of Our Lives.” The couple split up when Aniston was 9, and divorced in 1980.
By Aniston’s account, the divorce was bitter, and it made her think it would just be “easier” to be on her own.
“I didn’t like the idea of sacrificing who you were or what you needed, so I didn’t really know how to do that,” Aniston said. “So it was almost easier to just be kind of solo. So I didn’t have any real training in that give-and-take.”
The Emmy winner also explained how she faced difficulties in communicating her needs in relationships.
“It’s just about not being afraid to say what you need and what you want. And it’s still a challenge for me in a relationship. I’m really good at every other job I have, and that’s sort of the one area that’s a little …” she said before trailing off.
Aniston’s comments come a few weeks after the Daily Mail reported said that she had been leaning on ex-husband Theroux for support as she continues to mourn the loss of her father, who died in November 2022 at age 89. Aniston’s mother died in 2016.
Despite their divorce, Aniston and Theroux have said in interviews that they remain friends and occasionally celebrate birthdays and holidays together.
Aniston also is said to be on good terms with Pitt, even though his subsequent relationship with Angelina Jolie long created the impression that he left her to be with Jolie, his co-star in the 2005 movie, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” In a 2015 interview, Aniston absolved Pitt of being solely responsible for their marriage ending. She told the Hollywood Reporter: “We wish nothing but wonderful things for each other. Nobody did anything wrong. You know what I mean? It was just like, sometimes things [happen].”
Over the years, Aniston also has had to push back on reports that Theroux or Pitt left her because she was too focused on her career to have children. After Pitt began a relationship with Jolie, he became the father of six children — though, as everyone knows, that marriage ended in a bitter, protracted and litigious divorce.
“I’ve never in my life said I didn’t want to have children,” Aniston said in 2005. “I did and I do and I will! … I would never give up that experience for a career.”
Last year, she opened up to Allure magazine about how she tried to get pregnant through IVF. “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.”
Aniston also said she wished someone had told her to freeze her eggs when she was younger.
“I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor,’ You just don’t think about it,” she said.
Aniston told Allure that she has accepted that she won’t have children. “So here I am today. The ship has sailed,” she said. As with the Wall Street Journal, she also talked about becoming OK with not pursuing certain paths in life. “I have zero regrets,” she said.
