JEN ANISTON’S NEW CHAPTER
HOW THE ACTRESS’ TRAUMATIC CHILDHOOD HELPED HEAL HER HEARTBREAK AND WHAT’S NEXT
Jennifer Aniston is no stranger to heartache. From her rocky relationship with both her parents to two failed marriages, the star has braved through time and time again. And her positive outlook on life is something she credits to battling through her own troubled upbringing.
“It comes from growing up in a household that was destabilised and felt unsafe, watching adults being unkind to each other, and witnessing certain things about human behaviour that made me think, ‘I don’t want to do that,’” she told friend Sandra Bullock during a chat for Interview magazine earlier this year.
“I guess I have my parents to thank. You can
either be angry or be a martyr, or you can say, ‘You’ve got lemons? Let’s make lemonade.’”
It’s this glass half-full approach that has seen the 51-year-old get through difficult times and is also a trait that has come in handy in recent weeks. As WHO previously reported, her ex-husband Brad Pitt
– who Aniston reconciled with following his split from Angelina
Jolie in 2016 – has been dating model Nicole Poturalski, 27. The actor, 56, took the brunette beauty to his property Château Miraval in France recently – dashing fans’ hopes his renewed friendship with Aniston might lead to something more.
“Now that Brad’s swanning round with this German hottie, Jen is kicking herself for going back there with him – only to have history repeat. Of course the stakes weren’t as high this time as they were just getting to know each other again. It’s not like the first time when he ended their marriage for Angelina,” an insider tells WHO. “This stings less, but she’s anxious to prove she’s looking forward, not backward.”
Combine that with talk the highly anticipated Friends reunion is in peril once more (see breakout), it’s amazing Aniston has been able to keep her head up. But the actress says her work on Morning Wars has helped her understand life’s little hiccups a whole lot better.
“That show was 20 years of therapy wrapped into 10 episodes,” she told the LA Times last month. “There were times when I would read a scene and feel like a whole manhole cover was taken off my back. Cathartic, yes, and also interesting for me to look at how I’ve always tried to normalise being fine and ‘everything’s great, you know, this is all normal’, and then there are moments when you have your private breakdown … To actually look at it from an actor brain observing it and acknowledging it, I had to look at it as opposed to pretending it doesn’t exist.”
While work is normally a welcome distraction for the actress in times like these, production of season 2 of Morning Wars has been on hold due to the pandemic so Aniston is said to be open to others. “She’s making noises about being interested in dating again, for real, rather than just calling Brad or Justin [Theroux] when she needs a shoulder or a laugh,” adds WHO’s source.
“Gerard Butler has reached out to her and she has to admit she was tempted to meet up with him, but again, that would be returning to an ex rather than moving forward. Jen would love to date someone outside of the Hollywood actor bubble this time.”
And the picture in her head of what lies ahead is clear. “It’s not so much what I see myself doing, but it’s more like a little screenshot in my brain, where I hear the ocean, I see the ocean, I hear laughter, I see kids running, I hear ice in a glass, I smell food being cooked,” the actress said during her chat with Bullock, 56, about her future. “That’s the joyous snapshot in my head.”