Jennifer Aniston, everyone’s best friend
Friends alum Jennifer Aniston still rules our hearts. After her breakout role as Rachel Green, she became a household name in the 90s. Despite her brilliant career, she endured a lot in her life- from a troubled childhood to marriage with Brad Pitt to dating rumors to pal Adam Sandler. She has been in the limelight for long, yet there’s so much we don’t know about her.
So, here’s listing top ten facts about her that you probably didn’t know.
1. Childhood Fear
During the promotion of her movie Cake , Aniston revealed a childhood experience when she accidentally fell into a pool, and since then, she has been hydrophobic. She said, “I was a kid, and I was riding this tricycle around a swimming pool. And I drove my tricycle into the swimming pool and I didn’t let go, and my brother tried to (help). So, I can’t go underwater, and no one will believe me. I honestly can’t,” she confessed her fear, reported EOnline!
2. Jennifer was Dyslexic
In 2015, she admitted to fans she had Dyslexia. She couldn’t understand her struggle with education until she was diagnosed with the disorder in her mid-twenties. “The only reason I knew I had Dyslexia was because I went to get a prescription for glasses. I thought I wasn’t smart. I just couldn’t retain anything,” she said. Being dyslexic hurt her self-esteem in her formative years, so Jennifer Aniston resorted to humor to cope with the disorder and made everyone laugh.
3. Her honeymoon with Theroux was a group trip with friends
Aniston and Theroux ditched the traditional style of honeymoon-for-two. The duo invited over their friends like Chelsea Handler, Jason Bateman, and Courteney Cox to the Four Seasons resort in Bora Bora- which is a couple’s paradise. Theroux explained, “It was so much fun.” He added, “We had thought about it; we could just do a normal honeymoon or we could go with some friends, keep the party going, relax, and have fun. It was really special, it was really beautiful.”
4. She hated her famous hairstyle
Throughout the 90s, women and girls tried to emulate Aniston’s iconic hairstyle; however, she was never a fan of it. Referring to her hairstylist Chris McMillan who created the look of Rachel, she called him the ‘bane of my existence because he started that damn Rachel, which was not my best look.’ At the time, Aniston added, “How do I say this? I think it was the ugliest haircut I’ve ever seen.” She recalled the hairstyle was difficult to maintain.
5. Aniston was not the first choice for Rachel Green
It’s nearly impossible to envision anyone as Rachel other than Aniston, but the fact is the first choice for the role was Jane Sibbett, who played Carol, Ross Geller’s ex-wife. However, she got pregnant. “It was actually Rachel, but I usually don’t tell people,” she said, reported Evening Standard . She believed Aniston did full justice to the role. Sibbett admitted, “I have no regrets, my goodness. There’s no way anybody could have come close to what Jennifer Aniston did with Rachel. She was so perfect.”
6. Jennifer was a ‘Goth Queen’ in high school
She discussed her high school days in 2016, “High school was tragic. Just not well-informed. You know, you’re experimenting. It was the ’80s, and I looked like a goth nightmare.” She believed she wasn’t the ‘most beautiful,’ and she intentionally wasn’t aiming for that either. “I wasn’t going for most beautiful. It was, How can I be the most rebelliously unattractive?” She credits her glam team for teaching her everything that she knows. “Whatever was happening before was just unfortunate,” she said, reported PEOPLE.
7. Her parents were actors
Aniston’s father, John Aniston, starred in ” Days of Our Lives ,” and her mother, Nancy Dow, starred in 1960s shows like “T he Beverly Hillbillies ” and ” The Wild Wild West. ” Her father received the Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2022, reported PEOPLE. She virtually honored her father, calling John “a great and well-respected actor, who also happens to be my dad.” Aniston had a strained relationship with her mom Nancy, unlike her father. She referred to her childhood as “destabilized” and “unsafe.”
8. Aniston was considered for ‘Titanic’
Jennifer and Brad Pitt’s chemistry almost landed them the role of Rose and Jack in the film Titanic, reported Huffpost. Considering the pair were happily married for five years, their romantic chemistry would have created sparks in James Cameron’s movie. But Kate Winslet was determined to play the part. The actress, who was 19 years old at the time, apparently “wept buckets” after script reading. Winslet hounded Cameron by calling him on his car phone and giving him a rose. Cameron surrendered.
9. She worked other jobs before acting
She pursued musical-theater roles in high school while simultaneously auditioning in New York, doing non-glamorous roles. She once revealed, “The toughest job I’ve ever had was being a bike messenger in New York City. I was 19.” She worked as a coffeehouse waitress for the sitcom’s first few seasons, and she also waited tables in New York City. “And I was a telemarketer selling time-shares in the Poconos. I didn’t make one sale. I was terrible at it,” Aniston confessed, reported The Daily Mail.
10. Aniston also appeared in music videos
Jennifer Aniston appeared in plenty of music videos. One year after working as Rachel Green, she appeared in the 1996 music video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song “Walls (Circus).” The video was set at a circus where she sported long hair that she had braided into pigtails. Her next appearance was in 1995’s “I’ll Be There For You ,” while Aniston’s final music video dropped in 2001 in Melissa Etheridge’s ” I Want To Be In Love ” hit music video.