Jennifer Aniston is among the world’s most interviewed women. Acting since 1988 and arguably one of the biggest sitcom stars of all time, the Los Angeles native has been asked every single question under the sun, giving her a collective media training greater than most Premier League footballers. So when she comes out with something new and personal during an interview, it’s rare, and the internet invariably goes wild.
Her most recent interview with the Wall Street Journal magazine has provided exactly that, in droves. Aniston may be media trained — much of the article, for instance, is about her pivot to producing, and the new series of her AppleTV+ drama The Morning Show — but she’s also made peace with her persona as a starlet, and doesn’t care how she comes off as much any more. Or, in the words of interviewer Ellen Gamerman, “She’s past caring whether you think she’s woo-woo.”
And sometimes she does come across as a bit woo-woo. From crystals and salmon-sperm facials to psychics who predicted her relationship with Brad Pitt, here are the wildest things to come out of Aniston’s interview for WSJ.
1. Collective bargaining led to fat Friends paychecks
As part of the interview, writer Gamerman speaks to Aniston’s The Morning Show costar and co-executive producer Reese Witherpsoon, who shares how the Friends cast (Witherspoon played Rachel’s sister in two episodes of the hit sitcom) would negotiate their wages equally, never breaking rank. Hence the fabled $1 million per episode pay cheques by the end of the series.
Later in the article, Aniston touches on it, too. “It would’ve destroyed us,” she says, “I think, if someone was soaring financially.”
2. Aniston took two years to recover from her divorce
With Friends coming to an end in 2004 and Aniston’s divorce from Brad Pitt not long after, she references how she was slower than some of her castmates when it came to looking for other work. “I’d gone through my divorce, and there was a real shift in my life in terms of coming out from under the rubble of that,” Aniston told WSJ.
Then, in 2007, she switched managers and her life changed. “And then I was finding my work to be a real place of solace. [My manager] came in and kind of witnessed how I behaved in the business then, and she would give me these great bits of advice, almost like a pep talk. ‘You’re going to get on the phone, you’re going to address it like this.’”
3. Adam Sandler sends her flowers every Mother’s Day
Adam Sandler, who has played Aniston’s on-screen love interest in three films (Just Go With It, Murder Mystery, Murder Mystery 2), and his wife Jackie are close with the actress, and she shared with WSJ how the couple sends her flowers every Mother’s Day.
Aniston has previously opened up about her struggles with fertility, telling Allure in December 2022: “My late 30s, 40s, I'd gone through really hard sh*t, and if it wasn't for going through that, I would’ve never become who I was meant to be [...] I was trying to get pregnant.
“I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it. I would've given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.’ You just don't think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”
4. She’s sick of cancel culture
“I’m so over cancel culture,” Aniston tells WSJ at one point in the piece. “I probably just got canceled by saying that. I just don’t understand what it means.… Is there no redemption? I don’t know. I don’t put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket.”
The comment has proved controversial due to Aniston calling out Jamie Foxx for an anti-semitic Instagram post earlier this year, with some netizens claiming that her new stance is hypocritical.
5. She remembers being apprehensive around Harvey Weinstein
Following on from her comment on the “Harvey Weinstein blanket,” Aniston explains how she never had any bad run-ins with Weinstein, though she does remember feeling wary of him.
“He’s not a guy, you’re like, ‘God, I can’t wait to hang out with Harvey.’ Never. You were actually like, ‘Oh, God, OK, suck it up,’” she says, “I remember actually, he came to visit me on a movie to pitch me a movie. And I do remember consciously having a person stay in my trailer.”
6. A psychic predicted she would meet Brad Pitt
This is where things get particularly woo-woo. “I’m a businesswoman who’s got a crunchy side,” Aniston explains to her interviewer, before sharing how she visits a psychic, and that one time a psychic correctly predicted she would meet her future husband Brad Pitt. The article clarifies that the psychic didn’t predict meeting Pitt specifically, but a description that “fit him”.
7. She admits she finds relationships hard
After two very public breakups (Pitt in 2004 and Justin Theroux in 2018, after seven years of dating and three years of marriage) Aniston is aware that she has a certain reputation when it comes to relationships. She herself recognises it, admitting that her success sometimes feels limited to her career.
“It’s just about not being afraid to say what you need and what you want,” she tells WSJ. “And it’s still a challenge for me in a relationship. I’m really good at every other job I have, and that’s sort of the one area that’s a little...” She trails off.
8. She’s tried salmon-sperm facials to stay youthful
If you thought that Aniston’s youthful complexion was as effortless as it is ageless, you’d be wrong. Aniston tells WSJ she will try anything once when it comes to her skincare, including — salmon-sperm facials. “First of all, I said, ‘Are you serious? How do you get salmon’s sperm?’” she told the publication.
Aniston doesn’t know if her salmon-sperm facial had any effect, but she does back her weekly peptide injections. “I do think that’s the future,” she says.
9. She brings her own pimento-stuffed olives to Europe
Perhaps the funniest Aniston quirk to be revealed in her WSJ article is her insistence on pimento olives in her Martinis — so much so that carries her own in Europe after an incident with a rogue kalamata some time ago. She even pointed at the picture of the olive emoji to try to illustrate which type she wanted.
Now, she finds it easier just to cart her pimentos around in her purse. “I know what I want,” she tells WSJ of her olive-handling habits.
10. She believes in the power of crystals
Well, she does live in LA, after all. Near the end of the article, when Aniston discusses the recent passing of her father, who died of Covid in late 2022, she shares how she uses a crystal to feel close to him.
Before his funeral, Aniston apparently grabbed a crystal that she’d had for years and placed it in his pocket while she was standing near his coffin. When she returned home, part of the crystal was still on her dresser — she hadn’t even realised it was broken. Aniston tells her interviewer that she will take this remaining part of the crystal and use it for an amulet. Do with that information what you will.
