There is nothing comic about it, and nothing particularly romantic. She has little in common with her characters. Meeting with Jennifer Aniston, who easily abandons the image for what she considers more significant.
Strange, but I don’t see any of this. Nothing that is usually seen on the screen when Jennifer Aniston appears on it. I see neither the brightness of gray eyes with a funny brown ring around the iris, nor doll lips, nor the ideal oval of the face, nor eyebrows with a smooth break, nor the incredible radiance of blond hair (does such a shine exist in the world?), nor open smiling naivety, nor gentle foolishness … I do not see any of this. A beautiful, undeniably beautiful woman is sitting opposite me – she has bright gray eyes with a brown ring around the “iris”, she has shiny light brown hair, she has a delicate oval face and an unforgettable outline of her lips … But with that on-screen embodiment of the ideal (and therefore unreal) femininity, she has little in common. She is intellectual, unbending in her opinions, categorical in her formulations, exhaustive in her arguments. She has a husky voice (Aniston, with her usual directness, says: “Yes, just smoky”). There is nothing doll-like in her, nothing from the arsenal of noteworthy beauties – no smiles, no flirtatious antics, no attempts to please the interlocutor in order to charm him. I would say she is edgy. But this is the sharpness of an intelligent person who understood a lot, and reached everything with his own mind. That is not sharpness, but clarity. Including her pictures of the world. to which it is open. As can be seen from her home in the Hollywood Hills: light and space, white walls and arches, design elements from Southeast Asia and ridiculous old-fashioned armchairs from the 70s …
The house is quiet, and therefore her low voice sounds somehow especially significant, as if it comes from the depths of the stage. But – here again a strange feeling – in the hostess herself there is nothing spectacularly scenic. It is businesslike and focused not on effect, but on efficiency. She adjusts the collar of her black polo shirt and, sitting down on a small couch, also from the 70s, tugs gray linen trousers on her knees. With this preparation, Aniston lets me know that we are getting down to business – to talking. Jennifer Aniston clearly has a lot of things to do in her life that she clearly intends to do. And do well. I don’t intend to keep her. And so I begin with what, alas, has been the focus of general interest for several years now.
“I THINK NO RELATIONSHIPS CAN BE COST THE LOSS OF YOUR OWN LIFE – YOUR OWN DESTINY, NOT DEPENDING ON YOUR PARTNER.”
Psychologies: Recently, in an interview, you spoke about your relationship with Angelina Jolie, the current wife of Pitt, your ex-husband. In your words, even the definition of “unworthy” appeared. You acted like the stars never do – you took dirty linen out of the hut. Why?
Jennifer Aniston: It was an attempt to strike a balance of justice. I try to keep it not only in my personal life. But I always start with my life, yes. It wasn’t an insult. I was thrown off balance … well, I don’t understand why it was necessary to do this: Angelina gave a big interview and in it restored the whole, so to speak, scenario for the development of her relationship with Brad at the beginning of their romance, when they starred in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and we were still married and lived, mind you, together. Moreover, she restored the chain of their lyrical events literally by the day and even somehow intonation hinted that I was completely unaware of what was happening. The truth is, I didn’t know. Moreover, it is not clear why now tell in detail about their romance. That is, roughly speaking, about how your partner cheated on his wife! Would you define it as “worthy”? Worthy of her part, I have to ask, how could she not wait until the next day of shooting to meet Brad? Well, you can’t help but evaluate such things if they concern you personally. My world is not skewed. If I believe that injustice has been committed, I am not afraid to openly express my feelings – the balance of justice must be restored. At the energy level.
But this thirst for balance gives your decisions some sharpness. It is known that you did not communicate with your mother for many years and only now began to restore relations …
D. E: But that was just an insult. And not alone. I was twice deeply, deeply offended by Nancy. In a completely yellow TV show, for some reason, she began to be frank about my personal life: about my relationships, partners, habits. Then I broke up with her for the first time. And I didn’t speak for two years. It was very painful. I didn’t invite her to the wedding. This decision was hard for me, but I was so offended … But then, when I had already married Brad, I thought: well, how is it, my mother doesn’t even know my husband! If she can’t, can’t apologize, God bless her. I didn’t want to continue to give in to my own pride and repaired the relationship. It seemed to me that everything was fine and we were friends again … But it was at this time that Nancy, as it turned out, was writing a book – and again about me and my personal life *. And she didn’t tell me anything about her. When the book came out… It was a blow to me. Her new blow. You know, I probably would have survived this book, to hell with it. After all, the mother was a model and actress, perhaps she was used to living according to the laws of the world of show business, where everything is for sale and it is customary to endlessly remind yourself of yourself. If she sees a need for this for herself, I was ready to understand. I know how it happens. I realized at one fine moment – perfectly sobering. When one day after the release of the first two episodes of “Friends” I suddenly noticed a man with a camera who followed me two kilometers to the nearest pharmacy, where I, damn it, bought toilet paper … Then I realized, not without horror, really: my life changed – became part of the show … So I was ready to accept that Nancy was deformed by show business. I didn’t worry that my mother kept her plans for me from me – she didn’t tell me about the book she was preparing to publish.
Have you thought a lot about what deep reasons led you to this breakup?
D. E: Perhaps… deep down, I could not forgive my mother for her own fate. I guess it just pissed me off that she neglected herself. She and her father broke up, and she was left with nothing. It turned out that she did not have her own life, that in marriage she had lost herself, her independence, her own interests. The marriage of my parents was in this sense a lesson for me: in my eyes, no relationship is worth the loss of one’s own life, one’s own destiny, which does not depend on a partner. There is nothing more pitiful and dangerous than a woman’s desire to dissolve into a man … Perhaps this was the real reason. And she had a variety of masks. For example, I recalled that my mother, when I was a teenager, often emphasized how beautiful she was, that she was a model by definition, because she was flawless. I’m not even sure if I would have noticed that she was beautiful if she hadn’t constantly emphasized how ugly I am, that I’m a simpleton and a horror story …
“DOING SOMETHING FUNNY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY IN THE WORLD. I THINK IT IS A LUXURY TO BE REALLY SERIOUS.”
Many of us have accounts with our parents. And we are looking for an opportunity to forgive them …
D. E: But I had to forgive not only my offenses. I had to reconcile with a different life project … However, now I think reconciliation is inevitable. You know, I realized: life is a process of comprehending the meaning of words. Words that used to be abstractions for you, you begin to understand at the level of feeling. One of those words is forgiveness. Impossible to forget. And you can forgive. The second such word is risk. One day you realize that not taking risks in life, protecting your peace is the biggest risk. And you stop being afraid. Including new disappointments. You stop feeling offended… There is such a joke. Every artist goes through three stages in his life. The first one is “I”. The second is “I and Mozart”. And the third one is “only Mozart”. I suspect that all intelligent people, all those who have the brains to subdue their pride, come to the third stage: for yourself there are things more valuable than your pride … Nancy and I are now talking. She is 73 and in love. Not without reciprocity. I am afraid of her stories about sex – they echo something from her past experience, from this useless “a man is a wall that shelters a woman from adversity” … But we are friends again. While we are friends slowly, with such childish steps. But we are already friends.
Have you thought about how childhood experiences affected your adult life? After all, sometimes a career is the compensation that we try to get for childhood injuries.
D. E: Look, everyone has childhood traumas. Deeper in those who… The greater your capacity for love, the more pain you feel. Axiom. I have no regrets, only lessons. In fact, everything is good for us. And what happened in childhood. My parents divorced, and my dad completely disappeared from my life. I was probably nine. I came back from my girlfriend’s birthday party, and dad wasn’t at home. I then realized that there would be no more. The feeling of that evening is always with me – the feeling of a loss that happened independently of you and is irreplaceable … And besides, I studied at the Waldorf school – you know: the free, “natural” development of the child, the focus on his own experience … In general, we it was forbidden to watch TV. And I, of course, reached for the forbidden fruit. Besides, I desperately needed to reconnect with my father. How else could I – he was the star of television series! That’s how I fell in love with TV. I remember our family when I was little. There was so much laughter, jokes, teasing each other! Then tension arose between my parents … Dad says that it was then that I started doing magic tricks and generally became a clown – instinctively I tried to return our joy and laughter to the family. Probably, I already felt then: comedy, comic – this is what patches holes, licks wounds … Doing something funny is the most important thing in the world. It’s a luxury to be serious. Few people can afford it.
So your comic gift comes from persuasion?
D. E: And from a sense of contradiction. When I was in drama school, I had an acting teacher. Russian, before coming to America, he played in the Art Theater itself. When one of us, students, was out of tune, he said: “Shame on the Moscow stage! Shame on the Moscow stage!” At first, I shamed the Moscow scene regularly. Until I discovered that even the tragic usually has a comic lining, particles of the absurd. And did not begin to turn the tragedy inside out. Chekhov discovered this trick for me. We staged Three Sisters, I played Natasha, I read Chekhov. And I was shocked by the correspondence between Chekhov and Stanislavsky. Chekhov insisted that he wrote comedies, begged Stanislavsky not to make a crybaby out of his characters and stage plays as comedies, not dramas. I suddenly saw how all this is actually terribly funny – what happens in the “Three Sisters”. Creepy and funny … As a result, they laughed at my Natasha. Even that Russian teacher. This Natasha – she seeks to control reality and control absolutely everything. And it’s ridiculous by definition!
You do not seek to control reality – at least your own?
D. E: Only his own, others have nothing to do with it.
Do you clearly sense the boundary between yourself and others? Between you and the one you love?
D. E: Yes, but it doesn’t become a problem when people live in a state of dialogue! The question of the border arises between strangers. In general, I think that people break up because they are too lazy to talk to each other. Because they settle down nearby and consider: everything, the limit of dreams has been reached. And this is where their parting begins. In fact, having found what seems to be our own person, we go from the ideal person – with whom we fell in love – to the living, real one. And all too often it turns out that we don’t really like being alive. We all tend to be overly demanding in relationships. And we are not sure about our own account – we do not believe that we, such as we are, can be appreciated. And there is no cooperation, no dialogue between us. Because of laziness. Because of following certain accepted attitudes.
“PEOPLE BREAK UP BECAUSE THEY ARE LAZY TO TALK TO EACH OTHER. THEY THINK: EVERYONE, WE ARE TOGETHER AND THIS IS THE LIMIT OF DREAMS.
I hate Sex and the City! All those girls whining and complaining about men! Talking only about men! Their whole life revolves around men! And they feel strength in themselves only when they finally find Him. And they are attached. I don’t believe in happiness along the way. I know I’m right… Who said, “Whatever you want, it’s always outside your” comfort zone “? Where there is convenience, superficial, visible, there is no true joy.
But your own relationships often fell apart…
D.E.: Yes, and that’s why I insist. I now believe in cooperation as much as in love, in uncontrolled mutual attraction. I believe that in everything, in absolutely everything, only this module works – the balance of interests, cooperation, mutual enrichment. I now think: why do we not realize this even in our youth, when we live just like that? When do we share rented apartments and life in general? And we always help each other. I remember when I settled in Los Angeles, in a tiny apartment without a kitchen – the stove was in the room – everyone helped me and I helped everyone. When someone needed to make repairs, “dye parties” were announced – the owner bought paint and pizza, the rest came to paint together first, and then eat pizza together. That is, by and large, to be together. We didn’t live together then, we really were together.
But what if there is a conflict of interest with someone?
D.E.: I like to talk, not to fight. I’m not made for conflict. I usually get by with what I have. I grew up in circumstances of total lack of money, no one helped me even after school – my father had a new family, two small children, my mother herself could barely make ends meet. And, of course, I had to fight, but somehow I didn’t feel that I was fighting. For example, I have always liked what I am doing at the moment. When I studied and then, when I graduated from acting school, there were no roles, in general, work. I washed toilets – it was then highly paid. By the way, I did pretty well! She worked as a waitress – and loved this job. A bike courier is generally a dream job. Here are timeshares to sell … I quickly left there. Well, I don’t know how to “push in” … But usually I liked being who I was. And they told me: “You have no ambitions. You have to educate them.” I don’t like climbing. Although, of course, life is, by and large, up the inclined plane. Then, at best, you find yourself on a plateau … And I would always like to just be on a plateau. I guess that’s why I’ve been doing yoga for so many years. It is unthinkable without calmness, without horizontality.
Have you noticed some overlap between your films and life? With Pitt, you seemed like a happy couple and played at that time in the Good Girl. Closer to the breakup, they starred in Rumor Has It. During the period of divorce – in the films “The Price of Treason” and “American Divorce”. And then – in “To promise does not mean to marry.” Just then, you seemed to be going through a new romantic relationship…
D.E.: My theory of energy balance says nothing fresh: art imitates life. But life also imitates art … So whistle me if someone is looking for a performer for the role of the heroine in the film “The Endless Love of an Adult, Socially and Psychologically Stable Man.”
With such a name, you are unlikely to collect a serious box office …
D.E.: It’s nothing. On this project, I am ready to act as a producer.
1 It is about the book “From Mother and Daughter to Friends. Memoirs” (N. Aniston “From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir”. Prometheus Books, 1999). Moreover, the word friends here can be understood in two ways – as actually “friends” and as the name of the television series that made Aniston famous.
Private bussiness
- 1969 In Los Angeles (California), the daughter of Jennifer Joanna was born in the family of television series actor John Aniston and actress and model Nancy Dow.
- 1978 Divorce of parents.
- 1985 Enters New York’s La Guardia School of Music, Art, Theater and Film.
- 1987 Debut as a TV presenter “Shop on the couch”.
- 1990 Debuts as an actress in the television series Malloy.
- 1991 Beginning of a romantic relationship with actor Daniel McDonald.
- 1994 Her role as Rachel Green on the NBC sitcom Friends brings her worldwide fame.
- 1995 Meets musician Adam Duritz; becomes engaged to director Tate Donovan, they later call off their engagement.
- 1998 Meets actor Brad Pitt, they marry two years later.
- 2002 “Good Girl” by Miguel Arteta; for his role in Friends, he receives an Emmy Award, and a year later – a Golden Depth Award.
- 2003 “Bruce Almighty” by Tom Shadyak.
- 2005 Divorce from Pitt; “The Price of Treason” by Mikael Hafstrom; Rumor has it by Rob Reiner.
- 2006 Peyton Reed’s “American Divorce.”
- 2007 He makes his directorial debut with the short film Ward 10.
- 2008 “Marley and Me” by David Frankel. Begins dating musician John Meyer; founds the film production company Echo Films.
- 2009 “Love Happens” by Brandon Camp; Promise is not marriage by Ken Kuapis.
- 2010 “Headhunter” by Andy Tenant; wrapping up a Switch comedy by Josh Gordon and Will Speck; filming with Adam Sandler and Nicole Kidman in the comedy Just Go with It by Denis Dugan; is preparing to shoot Michael Sushi’s The Goree Girls, a musical about country singers.