While Others Crashed & Burned, Jennifer Aniston Broke Free From The Binds Of Her ¡®FRIENDS¡¯ Role
¡°I could not get Rachel Green off of my back for the life of me. I could not escape ¡°Rachel from Friends¡± and it¡¯s on all the time and you¡¯re like, ¡°Stop playing that f***ing show!¡±¡±
More than a decade has passed since the show ended, this is what Jennifer Aniston had to say when she was asked by Hollywood Reporter about her struggles post the iconic sitcom.
The story of the other five leads is no different. Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox might have enjoyed a long reign on the television, thanks to the show Friends but their careers couldn¡¯t reach the same high ever again. Phoebe, Joey, Rachel, Ross, Monica and Chandler became so real that the artists who played them lost their own identity in the process.
?17 years have passed since the show ended in 2004, Friends remain an integral part of our lives. People still watch reruns of their favourite sitcom without fail. If you look profoundly, it was only Jennifer Aniston who somehow evaded the Friends curse and broke free of her character Rachel to make a successful career for herself. In the recent past, Aniston bagged an Emmy nomination for her lead role in a latest series called The Morning Show. The journey till here has been anything but smooth. Let¡¯s take a look at everything that transpired for her to reach where she is at present.
Right after the finale of Friends in 2004, she bagged the film Along Came Polly opposite Ben Stiller.
Even though she had been doing a handful of films here and there while Friends was on air, the first film that fetched commercial success for her was this rom-com. Technically, her most successful film has to be Bruce Almighty in which she played the role of Jim Carrey¡¯s love interest.
She wasn¡¯t entirely immune to the curse. She faced back-to-back flops after the show but it was also her marriage to superstar Brad Pitt that ensured uninterrupted spotlight on her.
In 2005, Jennifer Aniston starred in two movies called Derailed and Rumour Has It. Both of them tanked badly and got her a bad rep in the cinematic world. However, people learned to differentiate between Rachel from Aniston as she often made headlines due to her marriage with Brad Pitt, one of Hollywood¡¯s hottest stars. So much so that the dashing actor even made a special appearance on the show in which he played Will Colbert, the guy who loathed Rachel.
?Their red carpet appearances made people swoon. Their marriage kept fans hooked. In fact, in the year 2004, she turned everyone into mush when she announced that the couple was looking forward to starting a family together. Unfortunately, that couldn¡¯t happen. Instead, she again came under the spotlight when the duo announced their separation following Pitt¡¯s infamous movie release Mr And Mrs Smith opposite Angeline Jolie and their scandalous affair.?
Aniston became a tabloid staple where fans and media cheered for her and she became everyone¡¯s favourite. There were groups called Team Aniston and Team Jolie who would constantly be at loggerheads with each other.
Jennifer soon got into her stride when she gave some of her career best performances.
Not one to be bogged down by failure in both professional and personal life, Jennifer Aniston soon found her sweet spot when her movie The Break Up opposite Vince Vaughn became a hit in 2006.?
In 2008, she surprised everyone with her tear-jerker film Marley And Me starring opposite Owen Wilson. The movie revolved around their pet dog Marley and it managed to strike the right chord with the audiences. Then came He¡¯s Just Not That Into You - a multi-starrer movie which has attained cult status over the years. Despite such big names in the mix, Aniston stood out because of the moving plot and her acting chops.??
She gained popularity as a rom-com actress with more misses than hits
Love Happens(2009), The Bounty Hunter(2010) and The Switch(2010) followed soon after but couldn¡¯t do much for her. Instead of fetching numbers, the last two got her Razzie award nominations. For the uninitiated, The Golden Raspberry Awards or Razzies is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements.
After a string of more flops, Jennifer Aniston decided to dabble with dark comedies like Horrible Bosses in which she played a manipulative sex-crazed employer. In 2013, she played a stripper posing as a mother in We Are The Millers.
Trivia - Not many people know that Aniston has dyslexia. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she revealed that she always struggled with education until she was diagnosed with the learning disorder in her early twenties. Since she was worried about not being as smart as others, she focused on making people laugh when she was in school.
Her film Cake which came out in 2015 became her redemption and a turning point in her career
Aniston took a much-needed break from comedy and portrayed a role of a woman who suffers with chronic pain and has visions of a member of her support group who killed herself, leading her to seek out the widower. This movie got her nominated for a Golden Globe, SAG and Critics' Choice Awards, and she was named People Magazine's Performance of the Year.
What¡¯s more she also got the Razzie redeemer award which is given to a past Razzie Award nominee or winner who subsequently "became a respected artist" and bounced back from critical or commercial failure.
The year after her former husband Brad Pitt tied the knot with Angelina Jolie, Aniston made headlines for her own wedding with actor Justin Theroux
Not only did her wedding create a lot of buzz but it also stirred a little controversy. At her wedding with Theroux, her two best friends Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow were in attendance but she didn¡¯t invite the men from their hit show Friends. The absence of David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry did raise eyebrows. When asked the men spared no breaths to express their disappointment at the lack of invitation.
Jennifer then went on a group honeymoon with her new husband Theroux and their friends Courteney Cox and Jason Bateman.?
Aniston lashed out at media outlets for trying to speculate about her pregnancy in a lengthy column.
Almost a decade of hush whispers and speculation led to Jennifer baring her heart out in a column that she wrote for Huffpost called For The Record. She called out tabloid journalism and the incessant need for media outlets to scrutinize the life of celebrities.?
¡°For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up. I¡¯m fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily under the guise of ¡°journalism,¡± the ¡°First Amendment¡± and ¡°celebrity news.¡±¡±
"The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for the bajillionth time... but who's counting) points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they're not married with children," she wrote.
Another media storm ignited when she announced her split from Justin Theroux in 2018. This time there were also stories about how there might be a reconciliation between her and Brad Pitt in the offing as both had come out of broken marriages.
Jennifer finally struck gold when she took on a lead role of a news anchor in The Morning Show starring Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carrell.
Taking a bold step, Aniston agreed to be a part of a show that revolved around the #MeToo campaign that created quite a stir in Hollywood and the entertainment industry. The show received a lot of love from audiences and critics alike.
In 2020, her role in the series landed her a SAG Award and two Golden Globe nominations, including Best Actress -TV Series Drama and Best TV Series - Drama (she is producer on the show as well).
There¡¯s no stopping her as she has a lot more potential and zeal to experiment with different roles. The FRIENDS curse might have made her falter in the beginning but her relentless spirit kept her going. Her claim to fame might be the sitcom but she has no plans to retire.
Jennifer and her cast mates from FRIENDS have finally come together after 17 years for one last time because they promised that they will be there for all of us, right?
