JENNIFER ANISTON
SHE HASN’T RULED OUT NEW LOVE OR EVEN MOTHERHOOD, BUT RIGHT NOW THE ACTRESS IS COUNTING HER MANY BLESSINGS
As she approaches her 50th birthday, the former Friends star opens up about why she’s happier than ever.
“My priorities were never about who I’m going to marry.”
— Jennifer
On most Sunday afternoons, Jennifer Aniston hosts her girlfriends and their kids at her expansive Bel Air home for a informal pool party. “We do ‘Sunday Fundays.’ We huddle around...and [the kids] jump around in the pool,” the actress reveals.
As she approaches her Feb. 11 birthday, Jennifer isn’t lacking in company or happiness. “I have a great job. I have a great family. I have great friends,” says the star, who ranked second on Forbes’ 2017 list of the highest-paid actresses. “And I love entertaining,” adds Jen, who’ll celebrate her big birthday with a “blowout” at her house. “Guests will include the usual suspects: Courteney Cox, Jason Bateman, Reese Witherspoon and Jimmy Kimmel,” a friend reveals.
It’s unlikely that Justin Theroux — with whom Jen split last winter after two years of marriage — will be invited, although the actress has no regrets. As child of divorce, Jennifer learned that it’s better to be on your own than to suffer in an unhappy union. “To stay in a marriage based on fear feels like you are doing your one life a disservice,” she says. “When there doesn’t seem an option of it working, that’s OK. That’s not a failure.”
At 50, Jennifer is her own woman who has made peace with the past — including her painful split from Brad Pitt in 2005. “My marriages, they’ve been very successful,” she says. “When they came to an end, it was a choice that was made because we chose to be happy.”
TRUSTING THE FUTURE
Today Jen believes that personal fulfillment doesn’t have to come from a romantic relationship. She has plenty of things, like her acting career, the renovation of her spectacular house and her close friendships, to keep her content. “I was never a kid who sat around and dreamed about her wedding,” she admits. Yet the still-gorgeous star won’t rule out new love — or motherhood! “Who knows what the future holds in terms of a child and a partnership?” she muses. “With science and miracles, we can do things at different times than we used to be able to.”
Right now, Jen’s not waiting around for a man or a baby to complete her life; It’s already pretty special. “She believes that everything happens for a reason,” says the friend. “If she meets a good man, she’ll go for it, but that’s not driving her. At 50, she’s baggage-free and the best she’s ever been.”
Happiness, after all, is a state of mind. “It’s a glass half-full kind of thing,” says Jen. “I’ve always been predominantly a happy person.”
— Louise A. Barile