How Jennifer Aniston Reportedly Really Feels About Ex-Husbands Brad Pitt & Justin Theroux
Jennifer Aniston has long accepted that not every love story can have a fairy tale ending. The "Friends" alum — and the public — once thought she'd found her Prince Charming in Brad Pitt, but just five years after they tied the knot in a lavish wedding in Malibu, California, their marriage crumbled and ended in divorce in October 2005. Three years later, Aniston suggested in an interview with Vogue that she no longer believed that her real-life relationships have to be as perfect as those in the books she'd read as a child. "Whoever said everything has to be forever, that's setting your hopes too high. It's too much pressure. And I think if you put that pressure on yourself — because I did! Fairy tale! It has to be the right one! — that's unattainable," she said.
Still, Aniston took another shot at "happily ever after" when she married her second husband Justin Theroux in a surprise wedding in 2015 after three years of engagement. But the marriage was over in less than three years, with the two stars calling it quits in early 2018. Both divorces, especially the first, sparked endless speculation and tabloid articles, with Aniston often being painted as heartbroken or scorned even years after the end of her marriages.
Regardless of what the tabloids say, however, an insider told Us Weekly that Aniston is on good terms with both of her ex-husbands. "Jen's moved on from her past relationships without hard feelings. She doesn't burn bridges," the source said.
Aniston's divorces with Pitt and Theroux were a lot less drama-filled than reported
The love triangle between Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie and the supposed feud between the two actresses have been tabloid fodder for almost two decades now. Pitt moved on with Jolie right after he and Aniston separated and married the "Maleficent" star in 2014 (though they've since split). But while the "Murder Mystery" actress did once tell Vogue that it was "really uncool" of Jolie to detail how her relationship with Pitt developed on the set of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" when Aniston and the "Bullet Train" star were still together, Aniston had always insisted that there is no actual drama there.
"We really had an amicable split. It wasn't mean and hateful and all of this stuff that they tried to create about Brad can't talk to Jen and Jen can't talk to Brad because this person won't allow it. It just didn't happen. The marriage didn't work out," Aniston told the fashion magazine.
In 2021, Theroux also shut down suggestions that he and Aniston had a "dramatic split" because they allegedly wanted to live on opposite coasts, telling Esquire: "That's a narrative that is not true, for the most part. ... People create narratives that make themselves feel better or simplify things for them." As of this writing, Aniston hasn't gone public with a new beau since her split from Theroux, but she told Allure in 2022 that she was open to starting a new relationship.