Jennifer Aniston grew up in a household that "felt unsafe".
Jennifer Aniston
The 'Friends' star has said she always strives to "push joy and positivity" to those around her, because she doesn't want anyone else to "come into contact" with the "destabilised" environment she grew up in, where the adults in her family were "unkind to each other".
During an interview for Interview magazine that was conducted by Sandra Bullock, the 55-year-old actress remarked that Jennifer has a way of pushing joy and positivity", and asked: "What is it that allows you to stay buoyant and keep from getting discouraged when things don't go the right way?"
To which the 51-year-old star responded: "First of all, that was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. I think that it comes from growing up in a household that was destabilised and felt unsafe, watching adults being unkind to each other, and witnessing certain things about human behaviour that made me think: 'I don't want to do that. I don't want to be that. I don't want to experience this feeling I'm having in my body right now. I don't want anyone else that I ever come in contact with ever to feel that.'
"So I guess I have my parents to thank. You can either be angry or be a martyr, or you can say, 'You've got lemons? Let's make lemonade.' "
Jennifer's parents, Nancy Dow and John Aniston, divorced when she was just nine years old.
And during the interview, the 'Morning Show' star also confessed that moving to Los Angeles and building a circle of friends that "supported" each other helped to "save" her.
She explained: "This conversation of women supporting women is new, but I think we have been doing it for a long time. When I landed in Los Angeles at 20 years old and I fell into those girls who are still sitting around the table today, they were on a different path.
"I'd never had a circle of women who got together and talked forever. I was like, 'God, these California people don't shut up. They talk about their feelings and cry in front of each other.' I said to myself, 'Here I am, a girl who grew up in New York City, and now I find myself in Laurel Canyon, wearing a flowery dress and someone put a crystal around my neck and is burning sage around my head. I have landed on Mars.'
"But I really think it was something that saved me. This is a really tough business that we're in that is not always kind or inclusive or supportive. A lot of the time, it's the opposite. I remember going to auditions and girls would never want to share anything. Or they would talk to you during your auditions to distract you when they knew you were trying to work on your stuff."
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