Jennifer Aniston says she can understand not wanting to be famous.
The perennial A-lister, 50, chat with Entertainment Weekly Tuesday promoting her new Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, in which she leads a packed cast including Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, playing a veteran morning show anchor named Alex Levy.
She said the role ‘never could’ve come to me any sooner than now,’ as it presented a significant professional challenge.
Double-edged sword: Jennifer Aniston, 50, said she can understand not wanting to be famous, telling Entertainment Weekly Tuesday, ‘I understand … not wanting to be seen, not wanting to be public, not wanting to have to go on a red carpet.’ She was snapped in LA in June
‘It’s one of the hardest jobs I’ve had,’ she said. ‘I knew I was up to the task, but then there was the excavation of all the emotions in order to create this world for this woman.
‘All of her lifelines are falling away. I would walk out of some of those scenes feeling like a manhole cover just came off my back.’
She said that she could relate to aspects of the character, who is a public figure: ‘I understand that, with people having connections to Friends,’ the 90s NBC hit she broke out on playing Rachel Green.
‘I understand the isolation – not wanting to be seen, not wanting to be public, not wanting to have to go on a red carpet,’ Aniston said. ‘It’s not always easy to go out there and have to be the person that you have to be.’
New project: Aniston plays a veteran morning show anchor named Alex Levy on her new Apple TV+ series The Morning Show
Inconspicuous: The actress was snapped in LA last month speaking on a phone
Aniston, who appeared alongside Adam Sandler in the Netflix movie Murder Mystery earlier this summer, chat with comic Tig Notaro in a May Harper’s Bazaar piece which touched on the ups and downs of being famous.
Notaro recalled a time in which the two were leaving the headquarters of the streaming service, and she felt as if she ‘was walking with one of the Beatles’ amid the attention from fans.
‘You were so kind and gracious to all of your fans,’ Notaro said, asking Aniston, ‘Do you ever find it overwhelming?’
Aniston said that ‘most of the time [she] genuinely [enjoys] the exchange’ with fans, as ’90 percent of the people are happy and excited.
‘Every now and then you’ll encounter someone who is rude or entitled, with a “Well, you asked for it” attitude,’ Aniston said.
She said that after decades of fame, she’s come to an understanding about when its appropriate or not to engage with fans, so it doesn’t eat up all of her time.
‘If I’m in the middle of dinner, no, I don’t want you to take my picture,’ she said. ‘I try to have a rule: I only take photos with kids. It was a hard boundary for me to create because people get really pi**ed off at you.
‘But you have to have limits. Otherwise you’ll just be standing there doing selfies on a corner for decades.’
