Jennifer Aniston has spoken candidly about her divorce from Brad Pitt and joked about how the breakup and “therapy” benefited her when her long-running role on Friends officially ended in 2004.
The 53-year-old actor was asked about how she dealt with Friends ending, after 10 years on air, while appearing on the final episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday.
In response, she reflected on how her life changed after Friends, both professionally and personally, as she joked about how her split from Pitt in 2005 helped her.
“Well, you know, I got a divorce and went into therapy,” she said, before shrugging her shoulders. “And then I did a movie called The Break-up. I just kind of leaned into the end.”
She also emphaised how the film coincided with the timing of her divorce, before recalling how it marked a point in her life where she started a “new chapter”.
“I was just like, you know what guys, let’s make this a completely new chapter,” she added. “Let’s just end everything and start new. It worked great.”
Back in January 2005, Aniston and Pitt, who were married for almost five years, released a joint statement announcing their separation.
“We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate,” they said at the time. “For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media. This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another.”
Pitt went on to marry his Mr & Mrs Smith co-star, Angelina Jolie, in 2014. Although they split in 2016, the former couple share six children: Maddox, 20, Pax, 18, Zahara, 17, Shiloh, 15, Vivienne, 13, and Knox, 13.
Aniston also got remarried, as she and actor Justin Theroux tied the knot in 2015, before divorcing two years later.
The Morning Show star has previously opened up about her relationship with Pitt, revealing that there isn’t any awkwardness between them. While appearing on The Howard Stern Show in June 2021, she recalled how much fun she had with Pitt when doing a live table reading of Fast Times at Ridgemont High in September 2020.
“Brad and I are buddies, we’re friends,” she explained, according to People. “And we speak, and there’s no oddness at all, except for everyone that probably watched it and was wanting there to be, or assumed there to be.”
The actor has also addressed how grateful she is for both of her marriages, to Pitt and Theroux.
“My marriages, they’ve been very successful, in [my] personal opinion,” she told Elle back in 2018. “And when they came to an end, it was a choice that was made because we chose to be happy, and sometimes happiness didn’t exist within that arrangement anymore.”
“When the work has been put in and it doesn’t seem that there’s an option of it working, that’s okay,” she added. “That’s not a failure.”
