JEN’S WEDDING JOY
After lying low, the single actress shines at a glamorous gala, as news breaks about a big day in the works
Jen Aniston is relishing her new single life.
It was a candlelit dinner at a star-studded benefit for a cause close to her heart, and Jennifer Aniston looked suitably stunning in an all-black outfit accessorised with a Chanel clutch. Beaming for the camera, the perennial California Girl sported a fresh hairstyle—blonder and shorter relaxed beach waves—and looked happier than she has in months, as she held hands with a special person at her side: her best friend of two decades, Courteney Cox, Aniston’s date at the June 2 event in Malibu. Fourteen years after Friends ended, and four months after Aniston’s split from Justin Theroux, the pair proved they’re still there for each other. Cox is Aniston’s “rock,” a source told The Mirror. “Courteney and Jennifer are thick as thieves and they have got even closer in recent months.”
Like Aniston, 49, Cox wore high-waisted black pants and carried a Chanel clutch to the “Our Majestic Oceans” benefit dinner held by Chanel and the Natural Resources Defence Council, but it’s more than style and caring hearts that bond the women. After supporting each other through years of heartbreak, divorce and new love, the besties are reportedly celebrating the latest milestone in their solid friendship, with Cox, 53, reportedly asking Aniston to be maid of honour at her upcoming wedding to Snow Patrol rocker Johnny Mcdaid. “Courteney wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle without Jennifer by her side,” added the source. “They have a very strong friendship.”
Famously close to her group of highprofile girlfriends, Aniston has been leaning on them more than ever since February, when she announced her separation from Theroux after two-and-a-half years of marriage and seven years together. The star “loves socialising with her friends,” a source told WHO. “Her friends invite her out and to parties. Jen has a very caring group of friends that take care of her.”
In May, she had dinner with Cox and Ellen Degeneres at upscale Los Angeles restaurant Craig’s, and in March, she holidayed in Tahiti with Cox, Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Molly Mcnearney. The following month, she attended the 1st birthday party the couple held for their son Billy, where she almost ran into her ex. The Leftovers star made his exit shortly before Aniston arrived. “She is doing fine,” a source told WHO in March, adding that her post-split life “is not very different” than what it was. “Jen still enjoys [life] in Los Angeles, Justin has moved on with his life in New York.” The 46-year-old indeed appears to be getting into the swing of the single life. Late last month, he was snapped basking in the sun in the south of France with pal Emma Stone. “They laughed all afternoon long,” an insider told E! News of the pair, who were joined at the Hotel du Cap-eden Roc by pals including Sienna Miller and Spiderman: Homecoming actress Laura Harrier. While there’s no romance between the actors—as Theroux said in a social-media post describing them as “JUST bffffffs”—he is “casually dating,”
“Jen has a very caring group of friends”
the source told E! News. “He’s in a great place and very happy. He’s enjoying being social and meeting people from all walks of life ... He is letting loose for the first time in several years. He doesn’t have anyone else to report back to and he’s taking advantage of that and having fun.”
His estranged wife is also looking to the future, as she reportedly plans a trip to Northern Ireland where a source claimed Cox will wed Mcdaid, 41, in the first of two nuptials set for this northern summer. Cox, who was Aniston’s maid of honour at her backyard wedding to Theroux in 2015, is said to also be holding a second “lavish and ultra-posh” do in LA, while her fiancé prefers a “stylish but simple” affair in his native Derry (Aniston will reportedly fulfil maid-of-honour duties at both).
For now, Aniston is enjoying cosy “Sunday night dinners” with Cox at home, and hanging out with their circle of gal pals “whenever possible,” said a source. “She has a lot of great people in her life who are very supportive and who she considers family.”