Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were the “It” couple in the early aughts. When they married in July 2000, she was in the midst of her decade-long run as Rachel Green on Friends, and he was starring in some of the hottest movies of the time, including Fight Club and Ocean’s Eleven. The perfection didn't last forever, though, and the actress recently shared her amusing take on how she dealt with the end of Friends coming around the same time that her marriage dissolved.
Ellen DeGeneres wrapped her daytime talk show on May 26 in the same way that she started it — with Jennifer Aniston as her guest. Since The Ellen DeGeneres Show premiered 19 years ago, Aniston has appeared at least 20 times, so she said that she and Ellen could talk about anything. This season the talk show host has been garnering advice from her final guests, and she asked the Murder Mystery 2 actress how she had dealt with the end of Friends after its 10-season run on NBC. Aniston joked that it was far more than her role as Rachel Green that came to an end at that time in her life:
Well, the ending of Friends. I, you know, I got a divorce and went into therapy. And then oh I did a movie called The Break-Up. I just kind of leaned into the end. I just was like, ‘You know what guys, let’s just make this a completely new chapter. Let’s just end everything and start new.’ It worked GREAT.
Ooh, is Jennifer Aniston throwing a little shade at her ex-husband? Friends aired its last episode in 2004, and it was January 2005 when the couple split amid rumors of a budding romance between Brad Pitt and his Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie (who he went public with soon after). Aniston, meanwhile, moved on with Vince Vaughn — her co-star in The Break-Up — but the relationship didn’t last long.
It doesn’t sound like the actress regrets any of her decisions, however, and she famously has remained close with Brad Pitt since their divorce. The two even participated in a steamy Fast Times at Ridgemont High virtual table read in 2020, where Jennifer Aniston said there was no oddness at all between the former couple reading the parts of Brad and Linda. The actress also remains close friends with Justin Theroux, who she started dating after they acted together in Wanderlust in 2010 and were married from 2015 to 2018.
The audience at the final taping of The Ellen DeGeneres Show applauded Jennifer Aniston’s admission that she started therapy when Friends and her marriage ended, and while it was surely a huge transition period in her life, it is pretty crazy in hindsight that she was able to wipe the slate clean for new projects and relationships. And at least she can laugh about it now! Hopefully Ellen DeGeneres can find the same post-show happiness, just without the divorce aspect!
Jennifer Aniston recently wrapped filming on Murder Mystery 2 with Adam Sandler and will star in another season of The Morning Show, available to Apple TV+ subscribers. Check out our 2022 TV schedule to see what other shows are premiering soon on television and streaming.
