Jennifer Aniston reveals she considered quitting acting

For many Rachel Green fans, it’s hard to imagine a film and TV world without Jennifer Aniston. After all, not only did she give everyone one of Friends’ most iconic characters, but she has also had some pretty major recent success with her latest series, The Morning Show. Plus, you know, all of those rom-coms in between.So it’s a little shocking to hear that Aniston was recently considering giving up acting altogether after a bad experience left her disillusioned with the entire industry. “I would have to say the last two years that [quitting] has crossed my mind,” she revealed in an episode of the SmartLess podcast. To be clear, she wasn’t talking about The Morning Show, but about a different “unprepared project” that she says “sucked the life out of me.” She specifically remembers thinking, “I don’t know if this is what interests me.”

 

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The one, the only Jennifer Aniston is our surprise guest on the latest episode of “SmartLess”. LISTEN NOW on Apple.co/SmartLess. #SmartLess #SeanHayes #JasonBateman #WillArnett #JenniferAniston

A post shared by “SmartLess” (@smartless) on Sep 28, 2020 at 8:35am PDT

The episode was co-hosted by Aniston collaborator Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses, Office Christmas Party), along with Sean Hayes and Canada’s Will Arnett. The entire conversation was sparked when the trio asked her what was the closest she got to ever quitting the business. Aniston must have thought pretty seriously about walking away, because she had a pretty quick answer for what she would have done instead, too.“Interior design, probably,” she said, shocking none of the fans that follow her online. “I love it. It’s my happy place. It’s a really happy place for me.” It’s not the first time she’s said as much either. “If I wasn’t an actress, I’d want to be a designer. I love the process,” Aniston told Architectural Digest in 2018. “There’s something about picking out fabrics and finishes that feeds my soul.”[video_embed id='-1']RELATED: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow had a 'Friends' reunion at the Emmys[/video_embed]It looks like, for the time being at least, Aniston will be sticking to interior design as a side hustle. And fans may have Reese Witherspoon to thank for it. The Morning Show producer and star was an integral part of getting Aniston back on TV for the first time since Friends, and she has been one of the women leading the charge on crafting real and meaningful roles for women on television lately with series like Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere."It just was a really great idea, and to be able to work with Reese again, and do something that was keeping me home in Los Angeles, is exciting,” Aniston told PopSugar ahead of The Morning Show’s debut. “Television is sort of where it's at. The work is more interesting, and the quality is just fantastic. Unfortunately, the film industry is a little different at the moment, but that's sort of the natural ebb and flow."That doesn’t mean Aniston has always had a bad experience in films of course. On the SmartLess podcast she also revealed what her favourite projects to work on over the course of her career have been. And while Friends and basically anything with Adam Sandler remain her go-tos (the pair are working on another not-yet-announced film together following Just Go With It and Murder Mystery), it’s the 2014 drama Cake that… well, takes the cake. "That was an experience that was creatively fulfilling," she said. "Everything I imagined as an actor I'd be completely afraid of and suck at, I didn't so bad."[video_embed id='2028858']Before you go: Grandfather meets granddaughter for the first time.[/video_embed]