The Unsinkable Jennifer Aniston (Part 7 - Last)
But Aniston has never been able to reconcile the glamorous Jen on page or screen with the self-doubting woman she sees in the mirror, and the current tabloid coverage has exacerbated that gap. "It's literally two different people - the real me, and the 'Jen' they write about, 'fighting back', 'getting revenge,' - everything I couldn't be farther from wanting to do," she says. "So I'm back on the wagon."
When she arrived in Chicago to film The Break-Up, the gossip media, frantic for a new development, immediately plunged her into a torrid romance with her co-star, Vince Vaughn. This affair apparently does not exist.
"I adore Vince Vaughn, but I'm not going out with Vince Vaughn," she says. "I barely know the guy. We've exchanged a wine-and-cheese basket for the start of the movie, and we've gone out to dinner with the director and other people. We've got to get to know each other."
But is Aniston seeing him - or anyone else? "Nobody," she says firmly. "I like a lot of people, but I am sooo not 'in like' with anybody. I am really enjoying being by myself. I'm excited that I know there's somebody out there for me, but I am absolutely in no rush. This is all very fresh, very new. This was a seven-year relationship that was very dear, very complicated, very special. I need to honor it."
Aside from her initial flurry of tears, Aniston remains calm and thoughtful through hours of conversation with me over the course of several weeks. But there is one final topic to be addressed, and it's the most hurtful of all. The rumor that Jolie is pregnant with Pitt's child has swept around the world; some reports have even have her finishing her first trimester.
When I ask Aniston about that, she looks as if I've stabbed her in the heart. Her eyes well up and spill over. Several long minutes go by as the tears keep rolling down her cheeks; she bites her lip, seemingly unable to speak. Finally she shakes her head; this subject is simply too excruciating to discuss.
"My worst fear is that Jen will have to face them having a baby together soon, because that would be beyond beyond painful," says Kristin Hahn.
Fortunately, there are many other things to keep Aniston occupied these days. Although she took some time off after Friends ended, she has since shot several movies, and the coming months will bring a series of premieres. First up is Derailed, a thriller starring Aniston and Clive Owen as two married strangers who meet on a train and arrange a hotel-room tryst - only to have an armed man burst in, rape the woman, and beat the man and blackmail him, setting off a horrific chain of events. The film will make adultery look about as appealing as Fatal Attraction did, according to Aniston: "It will be one of those movies you leave and say, 'The affair thing? Maybe not!'"
Then there's Rumor Has It, whose plot revolves around a young reporter's conviction that The Graduate was based on her family, and that she herself is adopted. Mark Ruffalo plays her fiance, and Shirley MacLaine is the Mrs. Robinson character, with Kevin Costner as the Benjamin Braddock who may or may not be Aniston's father.
Yet another upcoming film is Friends With Money, in which Aniston portrays a pothead maid whose friends -- played by Catherine Keener, Joan Cusack, and Frances McDormand -- are all married and far more successful in life.
Aniston is also re-evaluating her future role at Plan B, the production company she formed with Pitt and Brad Grey, who has since become chairman of Paramount. Pitt is now asuming the lead role at Plan B, but Aniston says she will still produce movies through the company.
"I'm excited about what the future holds," she says. "I'm not a fortune-teller; I have no idea how it will play out. People say, 'What are you going to do?' I don't know. I kind of love that not knowing."
She is trying to outgrow some youthful illusions. Prince Charming let her down, and Aniston no longer believes in one true love. "I think there are many people, many soul mates," she says.
But she still has faith in the redeeming power of love itself. "It's out there," she says. "It will happen. There's an amazing man that's wandering the streets right now who's the father of my children. In five years I would hope to be married and have a kid. I still believe in marriage 100 percent. When I hear people say that they would never do it again, it's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Why would you ever close your heart down?"
She gives me a sheepish smile. "Maybe it's a fairy tale, but I believe in happily ever after."
END
