Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman Have Been Best Friends For Decades, Find Out if They Ever Dated

Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman have shared a sizzling on-screen chemistry and remained close friends for decades. They met for the first time during their 20s when Aniston visited the sets of Simon in 1995 where one of her friends was starring with Bateman. During an interview with Relevant Magazine in 2010 the Friends star described their relationship - "Jason Bateman is just one of the sweetest. I’ve known him for so many years since I was 25 years old when a friend was doing a TV show with him."

"He was in a much different mental space back then, but still lovely and great and I’ve just always adored him. He’s just delightful. There’s nothing about him that isn’t squeezable." Bateman echoed the sentiments by sharing - "Jennifer Aniston, she and I have been friends for a very long time, so it was nice to have a chance to do some real work together. Especially since we’re supposed to be best friends, it was nice to have that friendship beforehand."

As per the Things, the BFFs have worked successfully in five films, their on-screen collaboration started with The Break-Up which was released in  2006, then came The Switch in 2010 where they imitated real-life by playing friends Wally and Kassie. In 2011 the duo starred in Horrible Bosses and Horrible Bosses 2  in 2014, the franchise was an overnight success and brought much recognition to both as actors. They last starred in the 2016 Office Christmas Party where they played frenemies, Carol and Josh.

During a 2020 interview with Variety, Bateman highly praised his co-star and best friend saying - “The way that she carries herself and everything that she takes on and has put upon her. It’s a very complicated full life that she manages, and she does it with grace and kindness and warmth to her closest friends and to a person she might meet that day on the set.” Aniston too had kind words for her friend - "He is prepared, he is solid, he is kind, he is funny. I love the days when I get to be with Jason on a set or at my house on a Sunday. He’s one of the greatest people to be around, whether I get to work with him, which I don’t get to do enough of and it’s been too long."

The Just Go With It actress has been close with Bateman's wife, Amanda Anka, and the trio often take off on exotic vacations together. In 2022 Aniston shared a photo dump on Instagram showcasing the trio enjoying an exotic beach vacation in Mexico. According to HITC, she and Bateman have been going on vacation since the 90s, their first one was a ski trip. In 2015, they vacationed in Telluride, Colorado, and then in Mexico in 2017. When Aniston tied the knot with Justin Theroux, Bateman accompanied them to Bora Bora for their honeymoon along with Courteney Cox and Chelsea Handler.

As told to Hollywood Reporter in 2021, the Murder Mystery actress has been keeping up with the tradition of 'Sunday Fundays', a time when close friends visit her for a fun Sunday evening. Bateman explained that she is nicknamed 'Carol' on Sundays - “Carol’s sort of like a den mother,” he shared, “or if you can imagine a woman who’d be the enthusiastic leader of a bowling team and all that goes with that. Someone who’s almost stuck in the 1940s in the way she organizes stuff because she just wants to make sure everybody is comfortable and has a good time.”

While Bateman has been married to Amanda Anka since 2001, Aniston has been through two unsuccessful marriages - with Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux respectively. There have been speculations about Aniston and Bateman being in a relationship but in their three-decades-long friendship, they have never been involved romantically.