Jennifer Aniston Was Forced to Belly Dance at Family Parties as a Child: "I Have Inner Trauma..."

During her recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Jennifer Aniston cleared up rumors about herself, including what gave her 'inner trauma.' The Friends star, 55, reflected on her childhood, growing up in Thousand Oaks, California, with her father, soap opera actor John Aniston, and mother, Nancy Dow. Jennifer did the segment to promote her new children's book, Clydeo Takes a Bite Out of Life, inspired by her rescue dog Clyde. She shared a unique memory from those early years, revealing that she was frequently asked to perform for family gatherings as part of their holiday traditions.

When Jimmy Kimmel asked, "On Christmas Eve, your family would make you belly dance?'" Aniston answered in the affirmative. "Any time, not just Christmas Eve," she stressed, according to the Daily Mail. '"You know. The Greeks love any kind of [a] family dinner, they would say, "Let's get up and watch" — it's like when you say to your child, 'Play piano for everyone, let's sing for everyone.'" She added, “I have inner trauma from having to perform and belly dance in front of my Greek aunts and uncles and grandmothers."

Aniston first spoke about her experience in a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly. She said, "When I was a kid, they used to make me belly dance. On Christmas Eve. My dad's side of the family is Greek, so I would dress up as a little Greek girl, and then on Christmas, after taking belly-dancing classes, I would do that.” The actress had pointed out the fact that belly dancing 'had nothing to do with Christmas,' and remarked, “It was just, ‘Let's humiliate Jen on Christmas.’”

Aniston also addressed other bizarre rumors on the show, including her relationship with former President Barack Obama. When Kimmel brought a tabloid cover that featured her side-by-side with Obama, and the headline reading, 'The Truth About Jen and Barack,' Aniston and the audience erupted into laughter.

"Of all the calls you get from your publicist where you’re just like, ‘Oh no, what’s it going to be?’ or the email saying, ‘Some cheesy tabloid is going to make up a story’…and then it’s that. I was not mad at it," she explained, as per the New York Post. She firmly denied the claim, calling it 'absolutely untrue' and clarified that she actually knew Michelle Obama more and only met with the former President once. 

Aniston did, however, admit that some rumors were true, including the one about her receiving a salmon sperm facial. "But let me explain to you. It's not like, how do you get sperm out of a salmon? It was sort of unclear," she said. "I just took the woman's word that that's what it was. And I was like, 'Sure.'" Aniston clarified, "I don't know, supposed to be little, tiny like the microneedling that they do. And then it was to push in the salmon sperm." "Don't I have beautiful salmon skin?" she humorously asked.