Jennifer Aniston: Backstage Pass

Seventeen Magazine: April 1998

The saucy star of Friends falls in love with the wrong guy in The Object of My Affection.

By: Cindy Pearlman

 

While sitting pretty in the hit NBC sitcom Friends for the last four years, Jennifer Aniston has been steadily been launching a movie career. This month her new comedy, The Object of My Affection, opens. We caught up with her and dished about friends, fans, and bad hair days.

Do you have it all?

I have a lot to be thankful for, that's for sure. Friends allows me to go back and forth between TV and movies. The movies just came about beautifully. But I'm not too comfortable, I don't ever want to have everything. My mind is going, What's next?

 

Where is the single weirdest place you've recognized?

Butt-naked in a sauna. This woman came up to me and asked, "Are you Jennifer?" I was like "Yep, All of me. Every bit." It was such an odd place to meet someone.

 

What have you read about yourself that drives you nuts?

I hate when I read, "Try that Jennifer Aniston diet." There was no diet. The media projected as image of me, saying this is the way would should look in order to be successful and loved. That's not what I ever wanted to promote. You should just be yourself.

 

Tell us about The Object of My Affection.

It's about a woman falling in love with her best friend, who's gay. It's almost a true-to-life movie. I know women whom this has happened to-they know the guy is gay and yet they wish things could be different.

 

Your character is pregnant in the film.

Yes, and I really did feel pregnant. The nine month pad weighed like 13 pounds. So my lower back was definitely sore.

 

Did you have strange cravings on the set?

It was a great excuse to eat M & M's.

 

Where did [your boyfriend] Tate Donovan take you on your first date?

Out for Japanese noodles-I don't like noodles. There we were at a strip mall: I was all dressed up, he was casual. Tate had planned a low-key date to seem down to earth. We had a great time.

 

When did you first feel famous?

The summer after Friends aired. I was trailed by a group of people in a pharmacy. I was standing there with my toilet paper and Q-Tips and said, " We waited for you. We followed you."

 

What's going on with Friends?

The show is still good. Everyone is so committed. We went through some troubles in the second year. Now we know we just have to stay true to our characters and the stories. For awhile, we had a lot of celebrity guest stars, I don't think we needed to do that.

 

Why did Ross and Rachel break up?

It sort of ended because of emotional pride, not because they weren't right for each other. That scene was so hard to film. David made me cry for real. I would love for them to get back together at some point.

 

Whose hair did you love when you were a teenage?

Farrah's [Fawcett] hair. I had a big Barbie head, and I would put pink curlers in her hair and wrap the bangs around them to get the Farrah thing down. I tried this on my own hair, too, but it never worked. You should never copy a style.

 

How did you feel when girls copied your 'do?

I felt bad and wanted to say, "We all have different hair. Try something that suits your hair." Certainly my hair wouldn't do in other styles. I wanted to tell them, "Even I have problem hair."

 

Jennifer Aniston has bad hair days? Shocking!

Are you kidding? I think I'm having one today because I didn't blow-dry it. It's frizzing!