Breaking Up: The Jennifer Aniston Way
We've all suffered through a rubbish break-up (or three) but imagine doing it in the sharp eye of the public! Elli Lewis looks at lessons for us mortal folk as learned from our favourite celebs.
It comes to us all at some point in life. Feeling pathetic and discarded upon finding that your other half’s ‘fantasy league football meetings’ are actually trysts with another woman, the pill is altogether harder to swallow when one unearths that the ‘new you’ is in fact a supermodel with a social conscience. Celebrities are no exception.
Hence we find ourselves at the door of the ever resourceful Jennifer Aniston. Upon her divorce from Brad Pitt in 2005, Jen must have been less than thrilled when she discovered that her former husband was now being linked to his ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ (2005) co-star, Angelina Jolie. In the eyes of the media, Aniston was the victim and Jolie the villain.
With the press and much of the public on her side, it seemed that Aniston had won the war of hearts and minds. Yet, it is unlikely that the actress welcomed this favouritism. After all, is there anything that would make one more of a social pariah than people having to tiptoe around the subject of their ex’s new girlfriend? And celebrities are not alone in facing these issues: the same applies to us mere mortals.
Fair enough, unlike Aniston, most of us have not had to suffer the indignity of our friends wearing t-shirts emblazoned with their take on the argument, but the signs are clear nevertheless. Whether it’s missing out on an invitation to a party because the host wants to avoid a ‘scene’ between you and your ex or whether it’s sideward glances of unbridled sympathy ruining your night out, you, like Aniston, may feel the need to prove that all is well.
The ‘Friends’ (1994) actress took a two-pronged approach. Firstly, like any animal searching for safety, she joined a herd. Enter Courtney Cox and her husband, David Arquette, from whom Aniston has since become inseparable.
The starlet’s next move was to follow in the steps of her ex-husband by dating her co-star, Vince Vaughn. Perhaps in Aniston’s case, she should have read the writing on the promotional posters, for it was following the release of their joint venture, being the aptly named ‘The Break-Up’ (2006), that the actors split. It turns out there is something in a name after all…
Yet the message from ‘Team Aniston’ is clear: Upon a relationship’s demise, take refuge in your friends, find someone new and make sure the ex knows all about it (but perhaps pass on the t-shirts...).
Elli Lewis
It comes to us all at some point in life. Feeling pathetic and discarded upon finding that your other half’s ‘fantasy league football meetings’ are actually trysts with another woman, the pill is altogether harder to swallow when one unearths that the ‘new you’ is in fact a supermodel with a social conscience. Celebrities are no exception.
Hence we find ourselves at the door of the ever resourceful Jennifer Aniston. Upon her divorce from Brad Pitt in 2005, Jen must have been less than thrilled when she discovered that her former husband was now being linked to his ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ (2005) co-star, Angelina Jolie. In the eyes of the media, Aniston was the victim and Jolie the villain.
With the press and much of the public on her side, it seemed that Aniston had won the war of hearts and minds. Yet, it is unlikely that the actress welcomed this favouritism. After all, is there anything that would make one more of a social pariah than people having to tiptoe around the subject of their ex’s new girlfriend? And celebrities are not alone in facing these issues: the same applies to us mere mortals.
Fair enough, unlike Aniston, most of us have not had to suffer the indignity of our friends wearing t-shirts emblazoned with their take on the argument, but the signs are clear nevertheless. Whether it’s missing out on an invitation to a party because the host wants to avoid a ‘scene’ between you and your ex or whether it’s sideward glances of unbridled sympathy ruining your night out, you, like Aniston, may feel the need to prove that all is well.
The ‘Friends’ (1994) actress took a two-pronged approach. Firstly, like any animal searching for safety, she joined a herd. Enter Courtney Cox and her husband, David Arquette, from whom Aniston has since become inseparable.
The starlet’s next move was to follow in the steps of her ex-husband by dating her co-star, Vince Vaughn. Perhaps in Aniston’s case, she should have read the writing on the promotional posters, for it was following the release of their joint venture, being the aptly named ‘The Break-Up’ (2006), that the actors split. It turns out there is something in a name after all…
Yet the message from ‘Team Aniston’ is clear: Upon a relationship’s demise, take refuge in your friends, find someone new and make sure the ex knows all about it (but perhaps pass on the t-shirts...).
Elli Lewis
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