Jennifer Aniston is going to be just fine, thank you very much! The Friends alum talked candidly about life in her first post-Justin Theroux split interview for InStyle magazine. In a Q&A conducted by friend Molly McNearney, Aniston admits she’s learned to let go the tabloid rumors and that no, she’s not heartbroken.
McNeary jokingly began the interview with a bang: “I want to start this interview off light. When are you getting back together with [Brad Pitt]?” she jokes. “Did Justin ever wear your jeans? And when are the twins due?"
Laughing, Aniston said: “You're the only person who could start an interview like that and actually send me into hysterics, not hives."
Aniston, who split from husband Theroux five months ago, has been a tabloid obsession since her previous split from Brad Pitt in 2005. With the end of Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s respective marriage as well, came a bevy of new hopeful rumors, pinning the duo back together and more.
McNearney noted that Aniston has been “poised and balanced" throughout it all, even since her Friends days, but our fave A-lister admitted that she has her moments.
"There are definitely moments of not being balanced and poised, but I do that all in my own personal space," Aniston admits. "For the most part I can sit back and laugh at the ridiculous headlines because they have gotten more and more absurd. I guess they're feeding into some sort of need the public has, but I focus on my work, my friends, my animals, and how we can make the world a better place. That other stuff is junk food that needs to go back in its drawer."
Speaking of headlines, McNeary asked her to name the "biggest misconception" about herself, and Aniston admitted there are many.
“Let's see. I'll just Google myself and find out … Oh, look, I'm having a $100,000 revenge makeover!" Aniston laughs. "The misconceptions are 'Jen can't keep a man,' and 'Jen refuses to have a baby because she's selfish and committed to her career.' Or that I'm sad and heartbroken. First, with all due respect, I'm not heartbroken. And second, those are reckless assumptions. No one knows what's going on behind closed doors. No one considers how sensitive that might be for my partner and me. They don't know what I've been through medically or emotionally. There is a pressure on women to be mothers, and if they are not, then they're deemed damaged goods. Maybe my purpose on this planet isn't to procreate. Maybe I have other things I'm supposed to do?"
Aniston also commented on being pitted against other women in the industry and facing sexism.
"Women are picked apart and pitted against one another based on looks and clothing and superficial stuff,” she adds. “When a couple breaks up in Hollywood, it's the woman who is scorned. The woman is left sad and alone. She's the failure. F that. When was the last time you read about a divorced, childless man referred to as a spinster?"
The actress, who relies on boxing to relieve stress and anger, admitted that there have been times where she’s contemplated bailing on Hollywood.
"There have been moments when I would just love to get out of Dodge and move to Switzerland — or somewhere — and start anew," she said. "Just have this shit behind me. Does it really matter? Are we really doing anything? What is my life's purpose? Every seven years I try to sum up what I am doing and what I want to make my focus. I'm trying to make better choices. I went through a period of saying yes to projects that I shouldn't have, but I felt like, ‘How dare I say no?’ Now I'm trying to get better at saying no and to be a part of projects that actually, really matter à la Dumplin' or The Goree Girls or this other film we're working on called The Fixer, about an amazing crisis manager named Denise White."
Rest assured, she’s not ready to retire.
“I’m grateful as long as people still want me to come to the party. I think I'll always want to keep acting as long as there's a desire for me to do it," she concluded. "As long as I'm fulfilled in other ways creatively, spiritually and all of that stuff, I know that I could do this until they put me in a home."
InStyle's September issue hits newsstands and digital download August 10.