So how did Jennifer end up with Louis Theroux’s biker cousin?
real hipster.’ In 1994, he was given the opportunity to audition for a new sitcom, entitled Friends – but his reluctance to ‘sell out’ led him to decline. The show made Aniston a household name, commanding $1million per episode, her layered hairstyle copied by women all over the world.
But Justin has said of his decision: ‘Who wouldn’t want to be a bazillionaire? But I don’t really regret it.’
Instead, he joined a motorcycle gang called Die Fast, which originally went by the name of Satan’s Hooves. He is still passionate about motorbikes and owns a Ducati and BMW Roadster.
Success was a long time coming. His first acting role was in the 1996 independent film I Shot Andy Warhol, which he followed with a part in the adaptation of Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. He appeared in television shows including Sex And The City and Ally McBeal, and took advantage of his brooding looks to model for Gap.
Even after he won critical praise for the 2001 film Mulholland Drive, directed by David Lynch, and appearing in 2003’s Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, fame remained elusive.
HE FIRST met Aniston through his best friend, Ben Stiller, whom he met on the 2003 comedy flop Duplex. It was on the set of the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, co-written by Theroux, that Stiller introduced him to Aniston for the first time. Of their first meeting, she recently admitted: ‘I remember thinking he was very dark. At first you think he could be, like, a serial killer. But he is actually the nicest person in the world.’ A source said: ‘People think Jennifer and Justin met on the set of the film they co-starred in together, Wanderlust, a couple of years ago. But they’ve known each other far longer than that.’
Another friend says: ‘ Justin appealed to her because he’s quirky, very off-beat but very kind and genuine. He collects old medical equipment and has a real human skull and a candy dish of teeth. He’s weird and eccentric but adores her. He’s very protective of her and she loves it.’
Aniston has been at pains to point out that she and Theroux only began their relationship after he split with Bivens. The stylist, who has refused to discuss her ex, has since moved out of the dingy apartment she and Theroux shared and into a noticeably more upmarket building.
One Hollywood insider said last night: ‘Heidi’s career has definitely taken off recently and it could be that people in the industry appreciate her not putting the knife in when it would have been so easy to do.’
It has only been in the past couple of years that Theroux’s name has become well-known in Hollywood.
Partly as a result of his work on the screenplay for the 2010 film Iron Man 2, he is currently thought to be worth £5 million – a sum dwarfed by Aniston’s reported £100 million fortune. But his star continues to rise, and he is currently working on his directorial debut, Swear To God, starring Will Ferrell and Steve Carell.
Theroux has shown his devotion to his fiancee by moving from New York to Los Angeles, where the pair recently purchased a 8,500sq ft Bel Air property together, which will be their marital home.
At the moment they live in a mod- est rented 1,700sq ft bungalow in the Hollywood Hills which they share with their pit bull puppy Sophie.
The pair have yet to discuss wedding plans, but the timing of their engagement announcement – on the eve of the date Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were rumoured to be marrying in France – has had Hollywood buzzing.
One old friend of Aniston’s says: ‘Jen claims to have moved on from Brad and she truly has. But everyone thought last weekend was when Brad and Angie would tie the knot. Jen’s engagement announcement trumped the non-wedding of her ex. You can’t help but think the timing wasn’t coincidental.
‘Jen is sick and tired of being portrayed as a victim.
‘With Justin by her side she feels confident. She’s moved on from Brad. Now it’s “Brad who?’’’