The iconic actress Jennifer Aniston has opened up to The Hollywood Reporter and shared some very personal revelations from her time in the film industry.
Most well known for her time on Friends as Rachel Green, Aniston made life-long friends with fellow cast members Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox, but admitted despite her strong friendships and budding career, playing Rachel Green wasn’t always plain sailing.
“I was the girl next door, the damsel in distress, the broken-hearted—your traditional rom-com themes,” she told the Hollywood reporter, “And at a certain point, it was like, ‘Can’t we do something else? Am I just on this part of the cereal aisle? Like, will I ever get to be a bountiful Kashi or some sort of oatmeal, or am I going to be Fruit Loops forever?'”
Thankfully for Aniston, she wasn’t Fruit Loops forever and has gone on to win a Golden Globe as well as multiple nominations for her continued work in Hollywood such as Apple TV + The Morning Show, Horrible Bosses, We’re the Millers and many more films.
Tabloid culture:
Aniston was once the hottest topic for tabloids. Her break up with Brad Pitt, speculation over who she was dating, if she was pregnant or not, the star argued it was difficult but social media presents new challenges. “What the tabloids and the media did to people’s personal lives back then, regular people are doing now,” she stated. “Although I haven’t seen a tabloid in so long. Am I still having twins? Am I going to be the miracle mother at 52? Now you’ve got social media. It’s almost like the media handed over the sword to any Joe Schmo sitting behind a computer screen to be a troll or whatever they call them and bully people in comment sections.”
Before ‘Friends’
It seems strange to imagine a world without the timeless sitcom Friends but it does exist and in it, Aniston confided in Lorne Michael who at the time was Saturday Night Live’s executive producer. “I went into Lorne’s office and I was like, ‘I hear women are not respected on this show,'” she reminisced. “I mean, it was such a boys’ club back then, but who the f*** was I to be saying this to Lorne Michaels?! So yes, adorably that happened and I’ve hosted Saturday Night Live a couple of times, and I love it so much.”
Post ‘Friends’
Fans were excited to hear of the Friends reunion earlier this year – nearly one million Kiwis tuned in but for Aniston, it was a bittersweet moment in time. “You get there and it’s like, ‘Oh right, I hadn’t thought about what was going on the last time I was actually here,'”
“And it just took me by surprise because it was like, ‘Hi, past, remember me? Remember how that sucked? You thought everything was in front of you and life was going to be just gorgeous and then you went through maybe the hardest time in your life?’ It was all very jarring … I had to walk out at certain points. I don’t know how they cut around it.”
Career-woman narrative
Tabloids used to obsess over Aniston’s womb, was she or wasn’t she carrying? Would she ever decide to have children or was a career all she needed? “I used to take it all very personally—the pregnancy rumours and the whole ‘Oh, she chose career over kids’ assumption,” Aniston shared. “It’s like, ‘You have no clue what’s going with me personally, medically, why I can’t … can I have kids?’ They don’t know anything, and it was really hurtful and just nasty.”
The new generation
Aniston didn’t mince words when she admitted Hollywood is “not that glamorous” as it once was, “It’s slowly becoming about TikTok and Instagram followers,” and she went on to slam the new Hollywood hiring process, “It’s like, we’re hiring now based on followers, not talent? Oh, dear. And I’m losing touch. I’m not great at going, ‘I’m going to stay relevant and join TikTok.'”
As for new projects, Aniston is currently working on a sequel to the film, Murder Mystery with Adam Sandler and is considering making an appearance in Matthew Perry’s upcoming memoir
“I don’t have the memories done yet—they’re still coming,” fans shouldn’t hold their breath though as the actress went on to say, “But that doesn’t appeal to me, really. I also feel like, ‘Who cares?’
