With reporting by Jen Heger & Marc Lupo
In a town filled with fair-weather friends,
Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Aniston are the
real deal, come rain or shine BY MARISA LAUDADIO
E
n
d
FROMLEFT:PASCALLE^SEGRETAIN/GETTYIMAGES;^ RANDYHOLMESVIAGETTY^IMAGESUSMAGAZINE.COM | 41
INSTANT CONNECTION
It all started about five
years ago, multiple in-
siders reveal. “They’d
known each other from
the industry,” a source
tells Us. They’d both
dated actor Tate Don-
ovan in the ’90s (see
next page) and enjoyed
the title of “America’s
Sweetheart” after a
str ing of rom- com hits,
including one each with
Ben Aff leck as their
leading man (1999’s
Forces of Nature for
Bullock, 2009’s He’s
Ju st Not That Into You
for Aniston). As Us re-
ported in the summer
of 2014, the friendship
was sparked during
a dinner party at the
S
andra Bullock was on a mission to disrupt — and delight. During
a Netf lix press junket in December, where she was promoting her
thriller Bird Box, she stacked a tray with tequila shots, juice and
lime wedges and crashed a nearby interview. And it wasn’t just
any interview: Jennifer Aniston and soundtrack songwriter Dolly
Parton were in the middle of discussing their film Dumplin’. As the
country music legend wet her whistle, Aniston puckered up and kissed
Bullock on the lips then declared the refreshments “delicious.” Bullock
smugly replied, “That’s the way you like it, Mama.”
home of one of Ben’s
exes — Gwyneth Pal-
trow. Says the Aniston
insider, “They got to
talking and everything
just really clicked.”
It didn’t ta ke long for
them to discover “they
had similar outlooks on
life and the same dry
sense of humor. They
bonded over where they
were in life and what it
wa s like to be a woman
in Hollywood.”
Things have only grown
from there. Now the
Speed actress, 54, and the
Friends star, 50, “talk or
text frequently and go out
to dinner a lot,” notes the
Aniston insider, “and of-
ten invite each other over
for parties and low-key
get-togethers. They each
think the other is hilarious
but also very kindhearted
and down-to-earth. They
can hang out in a group
with mutual friends or
one-on-one. They just
gravitate toward each
other and always have a
lot to catch up on.”
As with most girlfriends,
that includes swapping
beauty advice: They have
the same makeup artist,
Angela Levin, and “Sandy’s
been going to Jen’s favorite
facialist, Mila Moursi,” a
Bullock pal told Us in 2017.
“They’re always sharing
recommendations.”
There have been shared
getaways too. “They’ve
gone on trips and spent
winter holidays together,
gone skiing — they always
have a lot of fun,” adds
the Aniston insider. And
though the actresses were
spotted dancing up a
storm at a bar in Jackson
Hole, Wyo. — where
Bullock has a vacation
home — last New Year’s
Eve, they try not to f launt
their friendship publicly,
so sightings are rare.
They also tend to choose
notoriously private spots,
like the members-only
San Vicente Bungalows in
We st Hol ly wood , where
an eyewitness saw them
having dinner with a
female pal on May 31.
(One thing we’re
guessing they don’t
spend much time talking
about — but could — is