Jennifer Aniston Was Never The Same After Her Divorce From Brad Pitt

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt's lavish wedding (that reportedly cost them a pretty penny) was like something out of a fairytale, but not all fairytales end happily ever after. After spending seven years together, the couple separated, a divorce soon followed, and Aniston was never the same. Amid rumors and speculations about the real reason why Pitt and Aniston broke up, "The Morning Show" star mostly stayed on the high road but occasionally hinted at what went wrong. Speaking about her ex in an interview with Vanity Fair following the breakup, she offered, "There's a sensitivity chip that's missing."

Aniston's brutal six-word description of Pitt after their split says so much about the man she once called the "love of her life" in a Primetime interview where she once gushed about her instant chemistry with Pitt from their first date. So where does the Pitt/Aniston relationship stand now years after their divorce? While they eventually forged a friendship, it wasn't always an easy road for Aniston. "I would say my late 30s, 40s, I'd gone through really hard s**t, and if it wasn't for going through that, I would've never become who I was meant to be," she said in a 2022 interview with Allure. "That's why I have such gratitude for all those sh**y things," she added. "Otherwise, I would've been stuck being this person that was so fearful, so nervous, so unsure of who they were. And now, I don't f***ing care." It's no stretch to say Jennifer Aniston's life changed following her split from Brad Pitt. Here's how.

In early 2005, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt announced their separation. A few months before that, the final episode of "Friends" aired. Needless to say, Aniston's world went through a serious shakeup. On the final episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," the beloved sitcom star reflected on how her life changed after she closed the book on the "Friends" chapter. "I got a divorce and went into therapy," she quipped. "Oh, and then I did a movie called 'The Break-Up.' I just kind of leaned into the end."

Although she kept it light in the aforementioned daytime talk show interview, the truth is that Aniston is a big proponent of therapy and what it can offer. As she told Vanity Fair in 2005, "I think it's an incredible tool in educating the self on the self. I feel very strong. I'm really proud of how I've conducted myself."

At that time, "The Break-Up" star may have been talking about her divorce from Pitt, but in her 2022 interview with Allure, she shared that some of her emotional scars were established long before she met her ex. Aniston has admitted that watching her parents divorce affected her relationships all her life. "I have had to do personal work that was long overdue, parts of me that hadn't healed from the time I was a little kid," she confessed. "I've realized you will always be working on stuff," she added. I am a constant work in progress. Thank God. How uninteresting would life be if we all achieved enlightenment and that was it?" 

Self-care can mean different things to different people, from a spa day, to a long walk or dinner with friends. For Jennifer Aniston post-breakup, it meant treating yourself the way you would your best friend — with kindness and compassion. After her split from Brad Pitt, Aniston spent a lot of time at home with her dogs in what she told Vanity Fair was "an effort to take care of myself and my heart." "I feel like I'm nesting. I love being home," she said. The actor acknowledged that she did have her moments of self-pity and loneliness, but that ultimately the experience of retreating from the public eye was good for her. "You're forced to re-discover yourself and take it to another level," she said. "If you can find a way to see the glass half full, these are the moments when you learn the most. I've had to reintroduce myself to myself in a way that's different."

As part of that "nesting" she gave the home she once shared with Pitt a makeover that was more reflective of her casual, laid-back style. After spending years in a house that boasted a modern aesthetic favored by Pitt, she pivoted to a warmer, cozier vibe. In an effort to find the silver lining in her situation, Aniston joked, "I can have a comfortable couch." 

In a case of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Jennifer Aniston didn't break down under the public scrutiny following her divorce from Brad Pitt. "I had a choice to make: Either I'm going to surrender into bonbons and living under my covers or I'm going to go out there and find a creative outlet and thrive, and that's what I did," she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. The TV star noted that her mother shaped her approach to moving on, though not intentionally. "I also grew up watching someone sit comfortably in victimhood, and I didn't like how it looked," she said. "I knew that this person was giving me an example of what I'd never want to be, and I will never ever be that. I think it's toxic, and it erodes your insides and your soul."

That refusal to let the world drag her down is something that Aniston has worked hard to maintain, and it hasn't always been easy. She explained that she has tried to embrace all the good, bad, and ugly in her life in order to let it teach her something and help her grow. "I have to think there's some reason I have called this into my life," she said of the drama surrounding her divorce in Vanity Fair. "I have to believe that— otherwise it's just cruel." 

She may have played the slightly self-absorbed Rachel on "Friends," but in real life, Jennifer Aniston is more of a Monica. She loves playing the host and opens her home regularly for what has become known amongst her friends as "Sunday Funday." "I can't exaggerate how much she loves it, and how good she is at it," longtime friend Kristin Hahn told The Hollywood Reporter. "You go to her house and everything's warm and cozy. If it's wintertime, there's a fire going, the bar's open, and dinner at Jen's house tastes unlike any other dinner. I mean, I've been eating in her 'house restaurant' for 20 years now and I swear there's, like, aphrodisiac in that food." The guest list almost always includes actor Jason Bateman and his family, along with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and other famous and not-so-famous faces. "It's really great what she does for her friends, giving us a central meeting point every Sunday," said Bateman. 

As part of everyone's favorite friend group, Aniston knows the power of cultivating a strong community of people who become like family. They have been there for her through thick and thin, and marveled at her strength. As Hahn described to Vanity Fair of the divorce years, "This woman is basically having a root canal without anesthesia, but she's really trying not to numb the pain or shove it under the rug." 

When Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt's marriage ended once and for all, the public chatter regarding their relationship reached fever pitch. Rumors of Pitt having an affair with his "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" costar Angelina Jolie swirled, along with rumors about Pitt supposedly bailing on the relationship because Aniston supposedly chose her career over kids. It was a lot to digest, and the bubbly Aniston admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that she used to take everything said or written about her to heart, before she realized that none of it really mattered. "So, you disappear as much as you can, you have fun, you take on these weird roles, you don't give a s**t, you enjoy yourself, you remember that you have a gorgeous group of friends and your life is blessed and you do the best that you can," she said. 

Some might be tempted to try to set the record straight or offer up their side of the story, but Aniston is not one to bother with that. Focusing on the good in her life rather than lashing out against the bad has served her well, and she's sticking to that formula. "I'm not interested in taking public potshots," she explained in Vanity Fair in 2005. "It's not my concern anymore."

When you are as famous as Jennifer Aniston, the details of your private life are up for public consumption, something that "The Good Girl" star has never been comfortable with. "You have to manage it and put it in its proper place and into its proper size," she told Vanity Fair in 2025. "I'm still trying to figure it out." 

Figuring it out to Aniston meant taking control of the narrative. After reading one too many stories surrounding whether or not she was pregnant, she wrote an op-ed for HuffPost. "The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing," she wrote. "The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for the bajillionth time... but who's counting) points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they're not married with children."

Aniston also became more mindful of how she presented herself during interviews. Some of the comments she made about her divorce in interviews such as her post-split feature with Vanity Fair made waves, fueling gossip rags left and right. "Journalism back then felt more like a form of sport," she told Vanity Fair. "How are they going to misinterpret my words or take something out of context?"  Today, Aniston is much more guarded with her words, and conscious of what could launch a tabloid feeding frenzy. In other words, she's writing the story. 

When Jennifer Aniston married Brad Pitt, the world eagerly watched and waited to see if the two megastars would become parents. Tabloids speculated endlessly, and mistakenly reported that Aniston was pregnant too many times to count. 

It was all too much for the star, and Aniston eventually opened up about her struggles with infertility, telling Allure in 2022 that she had tried for years to get pregnant. "I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it," she shared. "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." Aniston went on to state that while she wanted to become a mother, she's reached a place of acceptance. "I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, 'Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.' I don't have to think about that anymore," she said. 

After she and Pitt went their separate ways, Aniston was called selfish for not having children. "That really pissed me off," she told Vanity Fair in 2005. "The women that inspire me are the ones who have careers and children; why would I want to limit myself," she added. "I've always wanted to have children, and I would never give up that experience for a career."

After her divorce from Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston did what she could to protect her peace. While she is on Instagram, she is mindful of how much she shares online. "The one thing I have is maintaining this little circle of sanctity that's my own," she explained in a 2018 Elle interview. "If I'm sitting here posting something about my dogs or I'm Boomeranging my coffee mug in the morning, that's just giving away one more piece of something that is mine." Aniston equated her attitude toward media consumption (social and otherwise) as something akin to the "cone of shame" that dogs typically wear after surgeries. "I have my imaginary dog cone on, so I don't see anything," she explained. "It just allows for a much more peaceful life." 

Cultivating peace extends to all areas of Aniston's life. Her home was described by a Vanity Fair writer as "an oasis," with its soft color palette, sweeping views, and plenty of crystals and incense. The effect was viewed as calming which, in Aniston's own words, is "the whole point!"  "Out there, it causes nerves," she told Vanity Fair. "In here, there should be no nerves." 

As Jennifer Aniston's personal life continued to evolve, her professional life started to take on a different direction, too. She began taking on roles that she could lose herself in and forget about all the drama swirling around her. "[B]ecause I didn't want to just be that person in the tabloids," she explained in an interview with Elle. "I also had to prove it to myself. I'm not just that, right?"  She chose projects that resonated with her on a personal level, like the complicated mother/daughter relationship at the center of "Dumplin'." 

Aniston has not minced words about her difficult history with her own mother, model and actor, Nancy Dow. In her aforementioned chat with Elle, Aniston shared that while her mother was hypercritical of her, she understood it was all part of a cycle. "My mom said those things because she really loved me," she said. "It wasn't her trying to be a b**ch or knowing she would be making some deep wounds that I would then spend a lot of money to undo. She did it because that was what she grew up with."

Playing Alex Levy on "The Morning Show" also offered the actor a level of catharsis. Like Levy, Aniston has had her personal life picked apart by both the press and the public; the part hit close to home. "That show was 20 years of therapy wrapped into 10 episodes," Aniston told ET. "There were times when I would read a scene and feel like a whole manhole cover was taken off my back."

As an actor and producer on "The Morning Show," Jennifer Aniston cherishes the work she gets to do in front of the camera and behind the scenes with this particular team. "I've learned that women are beyond capable to make great television and produce a show with elegance and grace and kindness to one another," she told Glamour. Aniston, along with her longtime friend and costar Reese Witherspoon, share executive producer roles on the show, and they've created an environment where women are encouraged to shine bright. "Jen is such a beautiful soul, always taking care of people around her," Season 4 addition Marion Cotillard dished to Glamour. "I really, really enjoyed getting to work with her and hang out. Jen and Reese are very supportive women."

That's no accident. Witherspoon told Glamour that the strong female leadership is responsible for creating a "very respectful work dynamic." She and Aniston trust each other to have the other's back, and they share the decision making. "We concede to each other a lot because we have a lot of respect for each other," Witherspoon said. That trust and "girl power" environment created a safe space for the actors to challenge themselves, including Aniston. Besides moving into the role of producer, Aniston has stretched herself on-screen as well. "I've also learned that there are places I can go in my creative self that I probably didn't know that I could, that have allowed me that challenge to push my limits," she said. 

Some years after her marriage to Brad Pitt ended, Jennifer Aniston began a relationship with actor Justin Theroux. They split up in late 2017 after six years. While she didn't find her "happily ever after" with Pitt or Theroux, Aniston has learned that happiness can take different forms. "Why do we want a happy ending? How about just a happy existence? A happy process? We're all in process constantly," Aniston told Elle in 2022. What really ruffles her feathers is the idea that a woman needs a man in order to be happy and fulfilled, while the same isn't thought to be true of men. "That's part of sexism — it's always the woman who's scorned and heartbroken and a spinster. It's never the opposite," she said, also noting that much of the criticism of women comes from other women. "Maybe those are women who haven't figured out that they have the power, that they have the ability to achieve a sense of inner happiness."

Aniston has stepped into her own power and defined happiness on her own terms. As a self-described "glass half-full" person, she has carefully cultivated and curated an existence that brings her, if not total bliss, something pretty close to it. "What brings me happiness? I have a great job. I have a great family. I have great friends. I have no reason to feel otherwise," she said. "If I did, I would need to go get an attitude shift, a perspective shift."