Table of Contents
Jennifer Aniston’s Romance with Hypnotist Jim Curtis Came from Her Journey of Letting Go of Fear of Flying
Jennifer Aniston’s introduction to hypnotist Jim Curtis was quite an unusual consequence of her deep and long-standing fear of flying. Whether or not the couple’s meeting was a direct result of her therapy for the phobia, the fact remains that it gave them some very interesting conversation topics during the time they were just getting to know each other.
“I have an extreme fear of flying,” Aniston confessed to Travel + Leisure magazine last April. In order to step on board the plane, she would first tap the side of the plane with her right hand and then step with the same foot. Yet, she admitted, “I have been doing some hypnosis lately, and one of the requirements is to remove all of those superstitions.”
Following the abandonment of these superstitious rituals, Aniston continued to practice meditation and breath work, and she said, “Now it’s shockingly good.” Judging by her flourishing romantic relationship, it seems that the same positive change in her love life has happened as well.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(997x160:999x162)/jennifer-anniston-boyfriend-jim-curtis-main-split-071425-d2a379b4d8c54b38bbdb04702f5913e7.jpg)
Jennifer Aniston and Jim Curtis: A Romance Lasting Almost a Year That Was Built on Mutual Friends
One thing that Jennifer Aniston has not said openly is that Jim Curtis—who is a hypnotherapist, Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner, and Chopra meditation teacher—might be the one assisting her in “breaking free from past patterns,” but he has been with her for nearly a year.
When the couple was first seen together, they were on a trip to Spain for the Fourth of July with not a few but only Jason Bateman and Amanda Anka, Jennifer Aniston’s closest friends. However, Curtis disclosed on Today that they have been in a relationship for “months now, almost close to a year” when the show aired on January 26.
While dating in a spotlight can pose various challenges, Curtis, 50, said that their encounter was very simple. “We were just introduced by friends,” he said. “That’s it. We discovered that we had mutual friends and we started talking.” Such a simple method of meeting is quite different from Aniston’s past high-profile relationships, which were often initiated through industry connections or on movie sets.
Jim Curtis Divulges How Love was Found with Jennifer Aniston and Hints on Developing a Romantic Relationship
Jim Curtis and Jennifer Aniston slowly nurtured their affair and Curtis admits, “It took a long time… we chatted for a long time and we became close.” In his opinion, dating in your 50s and 60s means you have to be confident and genuine at a different level.”
On an October Instagram Q&A, Curtis gave tips for getting a lover at an older age and pointed out that the basis of it is the love for self and one’s journey. “‘Exactly’ as you do at 22 and 32, but now with more confidence, more experience and more authenticity,” he commented.
This fitness guru who is a father of a teen with his former partner and was romantically linked with Bethenny Frankel, wishes that people just accept that they are at the best age of their lives now. “First love yourself and realize that you are exactly right for the age you are now and it is not the end of life at 42,” he said. “At 62 and 72, you will be looking back at 42 and wishing that you were at that age.”
Curtis claims that self-love is the predominant aspect in attracting a partner.
“Go out, open yourself to love and smile, connect with people and most importantly, love yourself,” he advised. “When you love yourself, you will magnetize more love to you.”
Jim Curtis and Jennifer Aniston Toast to Love and Friendship
Jim Curtis is pretty sure Jennifer Aniston is ‘the one.’ The actor whose girlfriend will turn 57 in February 11 is already thinking about celebrating her birthday. The couple have been sharing their relationship with the audience a lot, as Aniston posted a birthday tribute on her social media for Curtis’s 50th birthday in November, and Curtis also shared his 2025 plans with her along his side.
Furthermore, Jennifer Aniston’s close friends have given their nod to Curtis. At the 2025 ELLE Women in Hollywood ceremony Adam Sandler speaking of the couple publicly and said, “You and Jim found each other and are having the love affair you two deserve. We love you, Jim. The whole world loves you Jim.” The fact that Aniston’s loved ones have given such a warm welcome to the couple, it is a clear indication of the couple’s happy and strong relationship.
Jennifer Aniston Explains Why She Admires Hypnotist Jim Curtis So Much
Jennifer Aniston recently raved about her boyfriend Jim Curtis, therefore, she mentioned his many remarkable qualities that go far beyond their relationship. In an interview with Elle last year, she described him saying, “Hypnotism is just one of the many things he does. He’s really amazing, and he helps so many, many people.”
Besides that, Aniston described Curtis as “very special, very normal and very kind,” when she talked about his work of healing others and helping them to clear up their trauma and find their way. “These days, people hardly realize that you can spend your whole life doing something that is beautiful and meaningful to you,” she pointed out.
Choosing to be with Curtis her decision not only embodies their love for each other, but she also sees the value of the good work he is doing—this gives an intimate look at the life of the Golden Globe winner as she nears her birthday.
Jennifer Aniston: Early Life, Family Background, and Struggles She Has Overcome
Jennifer Aniston entered the world on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California, where her parents, actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow, resided. The actor Telly Savalas, a close friend of the family and particularly of her father, was her godfather. Before coming to America, the family name was Anastassakis, but it was changed when the family immigrated to the U.S. and decided to stay there.
At her early 20s, Aniston was diagnosed with dyslexia, said the actress in her 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I thought I wasn’t smart but I simply couldn’t remember anything,” she told the reporter.
Besides this, in a talk with her friend Molly McNearney in 2018, Aniston was also willing to share her experience of middle school bullying. ‘I was the one who was sort of bullied and frankly I had no clue why,’ she told InStyle. ‘The kids chose me as the one they would tease. It was kind of a strange time, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. Since I was a bit chubby, I was just the one who got picked on.’
Jennifer Aniston’s Early Jobs: From Cleaning Toilets to Waitressing
Jennifer Aniston was no stranger to doing less glamorous work before she became a famous Hollywood star. Growing up, Jennifer would clean toilets in order to get her allowance, and she even commented that she was pretty good at it. “For a time, I was really struggling, but I was content with my life whether I was making this amount of money, or that amount of money. I always liked the place where I was working,” she shared with Parade in 2009.
Afterward, and before her Friends character catapulted her to fame, Aniston took up waitressing teenage. However, she reveals that she wasn’t very good at it either. “I have dropped more than one Alpine burger in customers’ laps, and you simply do not want all that Swiss cheese and mushrooms in your trousers,” she confided in Marie Claire. Nevertheless, her character made up for these blunders. “I was not a good waitress, but I was told that I was very nice and charming, so people liked me anyway.”
Jennifer Aniston’s High School Years and Early Acting Roles
Jennifer Aniston not only studied in the drama department but also participated in sports such as volleyball and basketball in the prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts—the very school that was featured in Fame.
While attending the school, she was Chaz Bono’s classmate and friend, Cher’s son. “Every day, a group of us would go to Chaz’s house after school,” Aniston reminisced in a 2011 interview with Allure.
Today, Aniston is known for her laid-back California style but back in high school, she actually had a goth phase. “High school was tragic,” she said in an interview with People. “We were not really well-informed. You know, you’re experimenting. It was the ’80s and I looked like a goth nightmare. I was not going for most beautiful. It was, ‘How can I be the most rebelliously unattractive?’”
Aniston’s debut was a small role without her name in the credits as a dancer at McDonald’s in the movie Mac and Me, 1988. She was the one that took the character, Jeanine, Ferris Bueller’s younger sister, from Jennifer Grey after the latter left when it was decided to make a very short TV series based on the iconic movie. The actress also featured in the cult horror flick Leprechaun in 1993.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/020526-jennifer-aniston-4a76f12a0566419b84d35f93a493a6d9.jpg)
Jennifer Aniston Opens Up About the Difficult Relationship She Had with Mother Nancy Dow
Jennifer Aniston has revealed how tough her relationship with her mother, Nancy Dow, was. She explained that it had started when she was a child and only got worse when her parents divorced in 1980.
“She was critical. She was very critical of me,” Aniston explained to The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. “Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn’t. I never was. I honestly still don’t think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty.”
Aniston said therapy helped her see and accept her mother’s behavior. “It takes a lot of therapy, but you do absolutely get over it. That was her projection. It had nothing to do with me,” she disclosed to WHO.
The daughters had been estranged for years before Nancy Dow died in 2016. Dow had publicly attacked Aniston through media interviews and even written a tell-all book in 1999 called From Mother and Daughter to Friends. The following year, Aniston notably chose not to invite her mother to her wedding to Brad Pitt.
Reflecting on her mother’s difficulties, Aniston said in an interview with Elle in 2018: “She was missing what was [actually] important. I think she was just holding on and doing the best she could, struggling financially and dealing with a husband who was no longer there. Being a single mom in the ’80s I’m sure was pretty crappy.”
Jennifer Aniston’s Journey to Playing Rachel Green on Friends
Jennifer Aniston was up against some strong contenders when she auditioned for the role of Rachel Green on Friends, a sitcom broadcast on NBC from 1994 to 2004 that became one of the biggest hits in TV history. The candidates who were also considered for the role were Jane Krakowski, Téa Leoni, Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and even Courteney Cox.
“We first gave Rachel to Courteney Cox,” co-creator Marta Kauffman disclosed. “But she told us that she wanted to do Monica, not Rachel.”
Due to Cox’s choice, she got to play Rabba, Monica’s best friend, and the two actresses also became good friends off-screen. Aniston is Cox’s daughter’s godmother, Coco. Throughout the show’s 10 years, Aniston, Cox, and Lisa Kudrow had lunch together every single day. Cox revealed in a 2016 NBC special, “And we ate the same food: a Jennifer salad.” The salad was essentially a Cobb salad, which Aniston changed by adding turkey bacon and garbanzo beans.
Jennifer Aniston’s Road to Friends and the Story Behind “The Rachel” Haircut
Jennifer Aniston said no to several roles before playing Rachel on Friends; one of them was Saturday Night Live. During the 2019 Howard Stern Show, she revealed that she didn’t think she would “like the environment there” and that she considered herself a more serious actress than a comedic one. Anyway, fans were ultimately able to watch her on SNL when she hosted in 1999 and 2004, and made a cameo in 2016.
Aniston’s interpretation of Rachel Green really captured people’s attention and created a cultural phenomenon, as evidenced by “The Rachel” haircut—a messy style that made women all over the U.S. flock to hairdressers with Aniston’s picture. However, Aniston herself found that hairdo “cringe-y” and even in a Glamour interview, she called it “the ugliest haircut I’ve ever seen.” Besides that, her hairstylist and best friend of many years, Chris McMillan, admitted that he was under the influence when he gave her that now-famous haircut for the very first time.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/jennifer-aniston-081225-f23e94af9e1242c1a918ed85acc3179e.jpg)
Jennifer Aniston Almost Left Friends and Sharing Behind-the-Scenes Stories
Even after securing the highest-paid TV stars status along with her Friends co-stars—raking in $1 million per episode during seasons 9 and 10—Jennifer Aniston confessed she almost dropped out from the show’s last season. In a 2004 interview, she opened up about her doubts: “I was struggling with a couple of things. I wanted the show to finish while people still loved us and we were at our peak. And I was also questioning, ‘How much more Rachel do I have in me?’” Fortunately, she made it back, and as fans know, Rachel did not get on the plane in the finale.
Brad Pitt, Aniston’s then-husband, who guest-starred on the show, was not present for the series finale taping as he decided to watch it at home and be surprised by it. Their house was the venue of one of the three wrap parties, where a formal dinner was held with vintage Haut-Brion wine that producer Kevin S. Bright had bought during season one.
Alongside Friends, Aniston featured in the cult comedy Office Space. Initially, her part was increased to include the notable “flair” episode. In an Entertainment Weekly oral history, she confessed to having two crushes on set—one old, one new—which also included producer David Herman whom she called someone she was “a little bit madly in love with and also afraid of.”
Jennifer Aniston’s Name Change, Divorce and Legal Battles with Paparazzi
Only Jennifer Aniston continued to use her maiden name for professional purposes, however, after her 2000 marriage to Brad Pitt, she legally changed her last name to Pitt. In 2005, as she filed for divorce, she asked the court to allow her to go back to her maiden name. The breakup attracted the world’s attention mainly because of the love triangle of Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, who eventually became Brad Pitt’s wife.
During the height of the Jennifer-Brad-Angelina scandal in 2005, Los Angeles boutique Kitson marketed “Team Aniston” and “Team Jolie” t-shirts at $30 each, enabling fans to publicly support their favorite. Quoting Aniston’s Vanity Fair “Unsinkable” issue, Aniston’s t-shirts sales victory was as high as 25-to-1 over Jolie’s.
Jennifer Aniston is no stranger to legal battles with paparazzi and has filed several suits for privacy invasion. In 2000, she took legal action against two magazines that published topless photos of her backyard. In 2006, she agreed to a lawsuit settlement with a paparazzo after she had distributed topless photos to various celebrity magazine editors.
In the court documents, Aniston detailed the distress caused to her by the incident, stating that she was subjected to “shame, mortification, hurt feelings, emotional distress, anger, embarrassment, humiliation, feeling of being violated and injury to her privacy and peace of mind” because the photographs were taken without permission in her home.
Jennifer Aniston: Moving Beyond Heartbreak and Challenging Media Narratives
John Mayer once referred to Jennifer Aniston as “the one that got away.” After their break-up, Mayer told Rolling Stone in 2010, “I never really got over it. That was one of the worst periods in my life… I’m still sorry that we didn’t last.”
Having been a regular feature in the tabloids for years, Aniston has had to endure a never-ending barrage of questions about her love life, the never-ending Pitt-Jolie love triangle, and the constant pregnancy rumors. The media’s obsession with her finally got to her in 2016 and she wrote a moving piece for The Huffington Post titled “For the Record”.
“For the record, I’m not pregnant. What I am is totally fed up,” she said, criticizing the “sport-like scrutiny and body shaming” that are a staple of celebrity news. Moreover, she disputed the media’s habit of portraying her as “unfinished” or “miserable” just because she hasn’t had a child.
Claiming her freedom, she went on to say, “We don’t need to be married or mothers to be whole. We get to choose our own ‘happily ever after’.”
Jennifer Aniston’s Favorite Vacation Spot, Diet, and Fitness Plans
Jennifer Aniston’s top choice for a holiday is Cabo San Lucas, a place she regularly shares with a few of her celebrity friends, including Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Courteney Cox, and Jason Bateman. The One & Only Palmilla is her favorite hotel there.
As for food, Jennifer Aniston is very much into Mexican cuisine. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she said, “For me, nothing is better than a Mexican meal. I always crave something like soft, crispy tortilla chips with guac.” Her go-to cocktail is a straightforward margarita made with just good quality tequila, lime juice, and a little bit of Cointreau.
Jennifer Aniston is very serious about her workouts as well. She likes a “trifecta” workout where she spends 15 minutes each on the bike, elliptical, and treadmill, and most of the time, she does intervals. Besides that, she does yoga and lately she has started doing the Barre method. “Wow, I didn’t realize how much it actually hurts and totally kicks your butt,” she said to Yahoo!.
Jennifer Aniston’s Fitness, Endorsements, and Secrets to Her Radiant Glow
Jennifer Aniston feels boxing not only delivers a physically demanding workout but it is also a therapy for the mind. “Boxing is a very effective way to let out aggression. You get a release from all the negative things you’re hearing and seeing every day and you have little fantasy moments where you imagine who it is you are actually punching,” she shared with InStyle. “I’m just grateful it’s not really the person, although there is one person. You understand what I mean. Everything is fine.”
By the virtue of her lifestyle which is perceived as attainable and aspirational, Aniston has been the face of various brands such as Aveeno, Smartwater, and Eyelove. While Forbes reckons her annual earnings from endorsements stand at over $10 million.
When asked about her radiant skin, Aniston simply, “I can never get enough of telling my friends to do exactly what I do… hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Drink a lot of water, get enough sleep, work out, and whenever possible, eat clean and healthy,” she revealed to The Cut.
Jennifer Aniston’s Indulgences and First Instagram Appearance
Jennifer Aniston openly admits that she is a fan of a bit of “junk food” television. During an interview with People in 2015, she revealed that the Kardashian-Jenner family is definitely a guilty pleasure for her. Additionally, Aniston is a big fan of The Bachelor series, even visiting Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2016 to talk about her favorites from Nick Viall’s season. “It’s a train wreck! You can’t feel sorry for them. They’ve done that to themselves, they’re just there to entertain us,” she said jokingly to Access Hollywood.
Though she once promised that she would never be on social media, Aniston is well-known for essentially “breaking” Instagram when she finally opened an account in 2019. She confessed before her official launch that she had used the app for the most part. Besides that, she displayed an unexpectedly strong digital discipline: she always manages to keep her email inbox completely empty. “I get back to people and give them exactly what they want and that’s it,” she told the press, thus avoiding a huge pile of unopened emails.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Jennifer-Anistons-Oatmeal-Upgrade-for-Extra-Protein-Is-Quite-Genius-41fb6619603f4475a5ba31252174a3fb.jpg)
Jennifer Aniston’s Deep Adoration for Dolly Parton and Her Pets
Ever since she was a little girl, Jennifer Aniston has adored Dolly Parton. Years after their first meeting, she revealed a touching moment about the encounter, “I told her that I named my dog after her,” Aniston recalled to Jimmy Kimmel. Her white shepherd, Dolly, is in no doubt a nod to the legend herself.
She was also very close to her dog Norman, who died in 2011 at 15 years old. In his honor, she got her first tattoo – a name – on her right foot. In an interview with Inside the Actor’s Studio, she even told James Lipton that ”Norman” was her favorite word, demonstrating the significant role he had in her life.
Jennifer Aniston’s Life Beyond Friends: Pets, Earnings, and Hollywood Crushes
Jennifer Aniston and her ex-husband, Justin Theroux, have added two dogs to their family since their Friends days: a pitbull named Sophie and a terrier named Clyde.
Even though Jennifer Aniston didn’t have a show airing in 2018, Variety reported that she was still one of the highest-paid TV stars. She and Reese Witherspoon were reportedly paid $1.1 million each per episode for The Morning Show that debuted on Apple TV+ in 2019. Both actors are also executive producers of the critically acclaimed drama.
Moreover, Aniston is a great-looking celebrity and a hot crush in Hollywood. Riverdale leading actors KJ Apa and Cole Sprouse have both confessed that they had crushes on her. Apa revealed to Cosmopolitan that he admired Aniston although he never saw Friends, while Sprouse remembered having a hard time working with her on the sitcom, where he and his twin brother played Ross’ son, Ben. “I was so in love with her,” Sprouse said to the New York Post. “I was infatuated. I was speechless. I’d get all bubbly and forget my lines and completely blank. It was so difficult.”
Hollywood’s Longtime Crushes on Jennifer Aniston: From Jake Gyllenhaal to Ashton Kutcher
Several famous men who were around Jennifer Aniston’s age, such as Jake Gyllenhaal and Ashton Kutcher, have confessed their admiration for her even before the younger stars like KJ Apa and Cole Sprouse.
Jake Gyllenhaal was Aniston’s co-star in the movie The Good Girl. He told People magazine that he had been infatuated with her for a long time. “That’s for sure, have, had a crush on her for years and dealing with her was no easy task, you know,” he explained. “She acted, it was… I was, umm…yeah, that’s the only thing I can say. It was, err, lovely. You know it wasn’t hard.”
Ashton Kutcher brought up a story from his teenage years. When Aniston was his PC screen-saver at 17, he bet that he would get to date her. After a few years, following their first meeting, he even approached Brad Pitt to ask for his consent to ask Aniston out. “He was really helpful and said, ‘You do it,’ so I asked her and she said no,” Kutcher told The Graham Norton Show.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/jennifer-aniston-SNL-101425-1-36748efe577f432c8912004aaa24ef09.jpg)
Jennifer Aniston’s Production Ventures and Enduring Hollywood Friendships
Jennifer Aniston left the production company Plan B, which she started with Brad Pitt in 2006, and then she and her best friend Kristin Hahn started Echo Films in 2008. This production house, which has a pact with Universal Pictures, has been behind movies that star Aniston such as The Switch, Cake, and Dumplin’.
One of the people she works with is her longtime friend Adam Sandler; and they have just finished filming Murder Mystery 2, which will be out in 2023.
Her friendship with George Clooney which started during an NBC Friends-E.R. crossover, has lasted for decades, even after she and Pitt broke up. Pitt is not only a close friend of Clooney but also his collaborator. In the summer, Aniston not only went to see Clooney but also met his wife Amal and the twins in Italy. “It’s amazing to see him with children. That’s what we talked about, that anything can happen,” she said to Ellen DeGeneres in 2018 when reminiscing about their friendship.
Jennifer Aniston’s Battle with Hollywood’s Beauty Standards and Body Image
Jennifer Aniston has revealed that her agents even told her to shed 30 pounds before she could audition for Friends. In a 1996 Rolling Stone cover story, she mentioned, “My agent said, ‘Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.’ My agent was very honest with me. It was the nicest thing he ever did… the disgusting thing about Hollywood – I wasn’t getting many jobs because I was ‘too heavy’.”
Aniston slimmed down with the help of NutriSystem and to explain her journey, she even made an appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “I was so fascinated to see a new figure come out,” she said about her body at the time. “I really had no idea I possessed such a shape.”
Two decades on, Aniston has openly condemned Hollywood’s excessively high demands for beauty. “It’s time to just stop thinking beauty is in the shape of a size 4 and the right butt size and the right waist size and the right measurements. It’s just old. We’ve done it. We’ve been there. Let’s move on,” she told InStyle in 2018.
Jennifer Aniston on Workplace Harassment, Fear of Flying, and Her Role as the “Social Glue”
After the #MeToo movement, Jennifer Aniston has shared some of her stories about harassment in the industry. “Some of the actors I work with have made sloppy moves on me and I just walked away,” she revealed to InStyle. “I have never been made to feel uncomfortable by a powerful person, using their position to pressure me. Surprisingly, a couple of women have been much worse to me both verbally and energetically in the industry,” she continued.
Another topic Jennifer Aniston has been quite open about is her fear of flying. It all started after a scary flight in her 20s and then she got panic attacks just by watching plane crash stories in the news. “My thoughts went crazy. So, yes, I totally want to get over that. I mean, it’s completely irrational,” admitted the actress.
Among her friends, Aniston is recognized as the one who always plans everything and the “social glue” that keeps the group united. “When she is away, it seems like we have lost our way,” said her best friend Kristin Hahn to Elle magazine.
Jennifer Aniston on Marriage, Motherhood, and the Death of Matthew Perry
Jennifer Aniston has kept a bright side to her story of love, explaining to Elle that she doesn’t think of her two divorces as failures. “My marriages, in my personal opinion, have been very successful,” she said. “And when they ended, it was a decision we made because we chose to be happy, and sometimes happiness is no longer found in that relationship.”
On the subject of motherhood, Aniston told the magazine that the thought has been “quite honestly, a bit scary” to her. She explained that while some people are naturally predisposed to that road, she is ready for whatever comes. “Nobody knows what the future will bring in terms of a child and a partner—how that child comes… or maybe not? And now with science and miracles, we can do things at different times than we used to be able to.”
Besides, the actress was saddened very much by the death of her Friends co-star Matthew Perry on October 28, 2023. Later she revealed to Variety that she had been messaging him that very morning and described him as the usual “funny Matty.” “He wasn’t hurting,” she said. “He was not having a hard time.” Aniston also posted a very nice text where Perry told her, “Making you laugh, it really made my day. It just made my day.”