Jennifer Aniston Opens Up About Strained Relationship With Late Mother Nancy Dow, How It Relates To New Role

Jennifer Aniston is getting candid about her late mother Nancy Dow in a recent interview.

The actress is currently making her press rounds for her new Netflix show titled Dumplin’, in which she plays the role of a former pageant queen. When Aniston’s plus-sized daughter decides to follow in her mother’s footsteps in an attempt to make a point about beauty standards, Aniston’s character is none too pleased.

And according to the 49-year-old, there were a lot of similarities between the mother/daughter dynamic in Dumplin’ and the mother/daughter dynamic that played out in real life with Aniston’s mother, Nancy Dow. According to People, Aniston opened up to the Sunday Telegraph about the strained relationship that she shared with her mother and how it relates to her new role.

“One of the reasons I really loved the mother-daughter aspect of it was because it was very similar in a way to what my mother, and our relationship, was,” Aniston stated. “She was a model and she was all about presentation and what she looked like and what I looked like.”

“I did not come out the model child she’d hoped for and it was something that really resonated with me, this little girl just wanting to be seen and wanting to be loved by a mom who was too occupied with things that didn’t quite matter.”

The actress went on to say that her role in her new show is very important to her because it aims to strip the “preconceived notions” about beauty and the unrealistic expectations that society is constantly feeding to us. Aniston says that what makes her feel beautiful is the people around her and the life that she has, even pointing out that sometimes a good hair day is a sign of beauty in her eyes.

Actress Jennifer Aniston opens up about difficult relationship with mother Nancy Dow https://t.co/dvOzFMcksX

— 9Honey Celebrity (@9HoneyCelebrity) December 3, 2018

And this wasn’t the first time that Aniston has talked about her and her late mother’s relationship. Back in 2015, the actress spoke about her and her mother’s relationship in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. In the interview, not only did Aniston say that her mother was “unforgiving” and quick to hold grudges for things that Jennifer found petty, but she also says that she was incredibly critical of her.

“She was very critical of me. Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn’t. I never was. I honestly still don’t think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine,” she dished.

Dow passed away in 2016 at the age of 79. It seems as though now Aniston is still looking to move forward in her career and life, this time with a Netflix show that she can really relate to.

According to Netflix, Dumplin‘ will be available to stream starting on December 7.