FABULOUS AT 50 – AND 15 YEARS AFTER LEAVING ‘FRIENDS’
TELLS HOW SHE’S NEVER FELT BETTER AND REVEALS ALL
ABOUT HER BIG RETURN TO THE SMALL SCREEN
JENNIFER ANISTON
Jennifer (above l
became a househ
name while starri
in Friends (lef
Fifteen years aft
the final series aire
and now feeli
great at 50, she w
soon be back o
the small scree
playing a new
anchor alongsid
Reese Witherspoo
in upcoming dram
The Morning Sho
(right). Describin
her character a
“a bit of a screw-
up”, the twice-
divorced actress
explains: “There’s
a similarity to
my life”J
ennifer Aniston may still be best
known for playing Rachel Green
in US sitcom Friends, but in the
15 years since the final series first
aired, she has gone on to establish
herself as one of the world’s most
popular movie stars, whose girl-next-
door persona and fascinating
personal life have won her a legion
of fans.
But now, aged 50, she is returning
to the small screen – playing a news
anchor on The Morning Show – and
the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
“I’m entering into what I feel is
one of the most creatively fulfilling
periods of my life,” the actress
revealed in a recent interview.
“Seriously. I’ve been doing this for 30
years and I feel like it’s just about to
really bloom.”PLAYING A NEW ROLE
Jennifer will star alongside Reese
Witherspoon – who guest-starred as
her bratty younger sister in Friends –
in the new drama, which is one of the
flagship projects created for Apple
TV’s first streaming service,
Apple TV+.
The women are also executive
producers of the show, which centres
on Jennifer’s character Alex Levy, a
respected presenter on a breakfast
TV show, whose long-time co-host is
fired for sexual misconduct and who
then becomes threatened by a new
team member.
She says the role covers a whole
host of topics: “Children, guilt,
power struggle, being a woman in the
industry, going through a divorce,
publicly going through a
divorce, feeling alienated, being just
a little bit of a screw-up.”
Referencing the public fascination
with her own personal life – she has
been married and divorced twice,
first to Brad Pitt, then to Justin
Theroux – Jennifer said she can
relate to Alex.“There’s a similarity to my life.
I relate in ways of feeling like, when
you don’t want to be seen, and you
don’t want to go out of the house,
and you want to just scream, and you
don’t want to walk on a red carpet. I
don’t want to stand behind a podium,
‘I don’t want to have my photograph
taken, I want to just cry today.’
You know?”
She found working on The Morning
Show intense.
“It’s one of the hardest jobs I’ve
had,” she also said recently.
“I knew I was up to the task but
then there was the excavation of all
the emotions in order to create this
world for this woman.”
But all the hard work has been
worth it.
“When we found out that we were
among one of the first shows to be
bought by Apple, Reese and I both
had this pinch-me moment,” she says.
“The first women to help launch a
network as actors and producers,
having a beautiful piece of that pie
that we really earnt and deserved – we
had a big toast to that.”FEELING FANTASTIC
The energetic actress, who celebrated
her milestone birthday in February,
says she’s feeling better than ever.
“Fifty was the first time I thought:
‘Well, that number...’ I don’t know
what it is because I don’t feel any
different. Things aren’t shutting
down in any way. I feel physically
incredible.
“So it’s weird that it’s all of a
sudden getting telegraphed in a way
that’s like: ‘You look amazing for your
age.’ I think we need to establish
some etiquette around that dialogue
and verbiage.”
She added: “I am all about livingto
whatever age I’m supposed to.
As longasI’mthriving.”REPORT: LAURA BENJAMINH
PHOTOS: LMK MEDIA. REX FEATURES. SANDY KIM/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINE64