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Magazine - Exclusive Interview With Jennifer Aniston
August
13, 2002
In
an exclusive interview Jennifer Aniston talks candidly about her
amazingly romantic husband, heartthrob Brad Pitt.
Jennifer
Aniston and Brad Pitt are two of Hollywood's most successful stars -
and now they can claim to have one of the happiest and most romantic
marriages in the business as they celebrate their second wedding
anniversary.
In
an exclusive interview, Jennifer, 33, is clearly in the mood to talk
about her "wonderful" relationship with the man she
lovingly describes as her "best friend".
The
beautiful Friends star reveals what it's like being married to
possibly the sexiest man alive, what she thinks of his ever-growing
beard and how the couple have reached a compromise over their new
home in LA.
Jennifer
also talks candidly about the endless pregnancy rumors, the price of
fame, her strained relationship with her mother and the future of
Friends.
It's
immediately apparent that marriage agrees with golden girl Jennifer,
who has never looked more stunning. She arrives at the fashionable
Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills wearing an embroidered white
lace top over a white T-shirt and tight faded jeans which show off
her curvaceous figure. Her shoulder-length blonde hair is perfectly
streaked and her grey-blue eyes sparkle even without mention of the
38-year-old Brad.
Open,
friendly and quick to laugh, the normally reticent actress glows
with a new-found confidence and happiness that she attributes to her
"gentleman" husband, who sees her through
"rose-colored gasses". For Valentine's Day last year,
incurable romantic Brad sent her 1,500 red and pink roses and had
them delivered to her dressing room on the set of Friends.
She
reveals how Brad's love has helped her overcome her insecurities and
to show her true feelings, knowing that he "does accept me with
my faults and struggles and dysfunction". She also predicts
that he will make a "tremendous father".
As
she prepares for what is widely expected to be the last series of
the hit TV show Friends, Jennifer - who plays bubbly Rachel Green -
is forging ahead with her film career. In her latest film, The Good
Girl, which opened last month in the US, she plays Justine, a dowdy
and bored Texan cashier who cheats on her housepainter husband with
a sexy but disturbed teenager.
HM:
Jennifer when did you realize Brad was "the one"?
JA: Pretty much immediately. Maybe it was when he asked me to marry
him and I went, 'Oh, okay, that makes sense'.
HM:
How has your relationship developed over the past two years?
JA: Well, I've become a lot more comfortable with myself and my own
insecurities, because Brad does accept me with all my faultsand
struggles and dysfunctions. He just sees me through rose-colored
glasses, which is wonderful.
HM:
How do you keep that rush of first love alive between you?
JA: You have to work at it because that honeymoon period is so
intoxicating and so invigorating and, the truth is, that it does go
away. But I really believe that there are so many other levels of
intimacy that we have waiting ahead.
But because rarely do we ever get to those stages, once the
honeymoon period is over we just think, 'Oh, that's over. That must
mean it's gone.' But its always evolving and it's up to the
individuals. And if you really, really like each other as well as
love each other, then it just comes.
HM:
How does Brad show he's a romantic person?
JA: In all sorts of little ways. He still helps me with my chair in
restaurants and opens the car door for me, and he brings me flowers
and all those fun things. He's a real gentleman, he's kind, he's
generous, he's a goofball.
HM:
What's the most romantic thing he's done for you since getting
married?
JA: For Valentine's Day last year he had 1,500 red and pink roses
delivered to my dressing room on Friends. And on the mirror the
petals spelled out: I Love My Wife. That's pretty romantic, don't
you think?
HM:
Are you best friends with Brad?
JA: Absolutely. You have to be friends first and foremost. That's
the biggest thing. And that's what Brad and I are, and it's the best
part of it. This is the first time of my life I've been best friends
with the person I'm with and that's a huge change.
I mean I've always been good friends, but there was always part of
me that never felt completely comfortable to go deep in to the
vulnerable part of myself. And that wasn't his fault, it was mine; I
just wasn't ready. But in my relationship with Brad we've just been
able to open that up for each other, organically. It wasn't an
effort, it was easy.
That's not to say there weren't moments that were scary and awkward,
especially when you're in a relationship that's public and you're
under a microscope. It's even more of a challenge just to remember
that all of that is just bullshit and we're doing what we're doing
here and that's what's real.
HM:
What is it about brad that makes him so special?
JA: There's something about his spirit and his sole and his
gentleness. And also his kindness. He's probably one of the kindest
people I know, and conscious. He's kind to people and mindful of
people and thoughtful. He's just a good person and he makes me feel
so happy.
HM:
Is married life everything you hoped it would be?
JA: I never really had any dreams or expectations, so it has been
far more than i expected and it has exceeded every expectation. It
feels like everything that you felt but more, and it's a commitment.
HM:
You have a baby in this film and you have a baby in Friends. What
about in real life?
JA: Yes, absolutely, it will happen, but probably not for a while.
Friends will end and I'll close that chapter and then see where we
go.
HM:
But will you take some time off eventually to become a mum?
JA: Oh yeah, absolutely.
HM:
Every week there seems to be a report that your pregnant. How do you
feel every time you read that? Do you get mad?
JA: No, it's funny. I don't get mad at al. I mean, I get a lot of
free desserts and all kinds of things!
HM:
Do you both feel under pressure to conceive because the whole
world's expecting it?
JA: Oh Yeah, although there's no pressure from our families. I think
they feel everyone else is doing it for them.
HM:
Do you think you'll be a good mum?
JA: I hope so, yeah. I love kids. I just really look forward to
being there.
HM:
What kind of father do you think Brad will make?
JA: Oh, he'll be the best, a tremendous father. He really be because
he's so kind and generous and warm, especially with children. With
all our friends' babies he's just amazing, so I'm really looking
forward to that so much.
HM:
Is it true he wants a big family, like seven kids?
JA: Yes - but as we get older I think we're downsizing a bit. As
we're both getting up there, it's like, 'You know what? Maybe three
is good!'
HM:
Have you and Brad discussed names for your kids yet?
JA: No we haven't got there yet. It's still early days.
HM:
Does Brad want a boy or a girl first?
JA: He'd be happy with either.
HM:
How about you?
JA: The same - either.
HM:
Would having a baby alt your career? After all, it's difficult
juggling motherhood and a high profile career.
JA: Yes and something has to give. That's why i feel I'm going to do
this now and do it as much as I can. But we do have the amazing
luxury in the business of being able to bring our children with us
and travel the world and see things that they'd maybe never see
otherwise. So it can be quite an education, too. I think you just
have to find the silver lining in every situation and just go with
it. I think it'll all work out just fine.
HM:
You famously called your mother "the last bit of disease in my
life"? Do you worry the relationship with your own child will
be the same?
JA: No, not at all. My mother and I are different people.
HM:
There have been reports that you and her are reconciling. Are they
true?
JA: No, there's been no discussion and I don't know where that
actually came from. So no, not right now, but eventually, I'm sure
that will happen. It takes time to heal.
HM:
How do you and Brad relax at home?
JA: We'll order in and we love to play games, like dominoes and
charades is a great one. Lately we've been playing with Taboo and we
have poker nights. We just have fun together.
HM:
What are the main bones of contention between you and Brad?
JA: There aren't many. The only times we've had disagreements is on
design and house stuff. But that's all gotten much better because
we've realized we need to inch towards the center to a common
ground. And we have. We've been able to incorporate both of our
tastes and make it a wonderful eclectic home.
But there'll always be the moment of, 'No! That's far to cold.
There's no warmth there.' And he's saying, 'Well that's old and
boring and that's been done.' Then we'll fight it out and the one at
the end who doesn't have a bloody lip at the end... No, we're fine.
It's all about compromise and I'm realizing that's not giving up
anything. There's a big thing about freedom and how no one's going
to take that away. But compromising isn't giving up anything; it's
actually about giving to someone. And i don't feel that loss of
freedom anymore.
HM:
What about Brad's beard do you love it or hate it?
JA: I go through my moments! I love it now because its all soft and
long and past the awful prickly phase. It's interesting. He's a
chameleon and he can have so many different looks, and I just love
him through and through regardless of him looking like Kenny Rogers
and the Unebomber.
HM:
How does it feel being married to the man who's constantly topping
'The Most Beautiful Man In The World' lists?
JA: It's just funny to me. It drives him crazy, but I think it's
funny. There's nothing wrong with that and they could be saying far
worse things! It's all just silly fodder and you take it with a big
grain of salt.
HM:
Do you feel insecure that Brad's seen as this big heartthrob?
JA: No, not at all.
HM:
What do you do when you and Brad don't agree?
JA: We talk it out. You have to. And conflict is okay. There's
nothing wrong with it.
HM:
Are you good at discussing problems or do you tend to bottle them
up?
JA: I'm better at talking stuff out. I've gotten better over the
past four years at doing that. We both said at the start, 'Let's
take everything we're afraid of and every problem and just face them
head on.' That earns sitting down and saying, 'That really bugs me'
or 'That really hurt me', and then you have some common ground and
can discuss it. It's so much easier than to project it or find
something else to get upset about. You just go to the truthful place
and it's not so scary. You just hand it over and if someone really
loves you, they hear you. And then you talk it out and it's
resolved. Done.
HM:
You both have such busy schedules. How do you cope with being apart
for so much of the time?
It can be very frustrating dealing with schedules, but I have to say
we've been really lucky. Brads been working on this film in LA for
the past year, so we've been together for the whole time, and before
we got married he never went away, except to do Snatch for a month
in England. So we've really had a lucky run over the past four or
five years.
The biggest break was when he had to go off to Budapest to do Spy
Games. And it is hard. It's a weird job that we do as actors, living
like gypsies, and you need to have an immense amount of trust in
each other. But you go and visit as much as you can on sets when the
time's right and you know that you'll be back.
HM:
Have you ever wanted to play a character who's the total opposite of
you, a total bitch?
JA: Oh yeah, I'd love to. I'd like to play all kinds of characters
at some point. I'm sort of doing that in The Good Girl, although
she's not really bad. She's just lost and doesn't know any better.
She's not really consciously bad. She's just fed up of playing the
god girl. I play a woman who's married and living in Texas and she's
basically fed up with her life and doesn't feel any passion for
anything any more. So she tries to shake it up and then she get into
some pretty bad situations.
HM:
Do you ever feel that if your own life had gone in a different
direction, you could of ended up like Justine, living and working in
a small town?
JA: At the Retail Rodeo?! Yeah I could have. I was never really sure
that I'd ever really make it as an actor. I never had great
expectations, so there was a part of me that felt like, if I'm a
waitress for the rest of my life, fine, I'll be a waitress.
HM:
Justine learns to accept her husband in the end, with all his
faults. Is that the key to a happy marriage - and yours with Brad?
JA: Definitely, absolutely. Acceptance and also being able to be
vulnerable and open and divulge. Being able to show all those things
and having someone to love you in spite of them, because we all have
them. There isn't a human being on the planet who doesn't have the
seed of some little haunt inside them. I really do believe that and
it's an amazing feeling to know that about someone.
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