Jennifer Aniston, Hollywood Mogul, on Creating a ‘Chick Club’ With Reese Witherspoon
Jennifer Aniston is described as a “stealth mogul” in a new profile with the Wall Street Journal published on Monday.
Aniston, who has gone from Rachel Green on Friends to Alex Levy in The Morning Show, launched Echo Films in April 2008 with production partner Kristin Hahn after walking away from Plan B Entertainment, which she founded with ex-husband Brad Pitt.
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“Talk about a male-female situation,” Aniston told WSJ when recalling the gender dynamics surrounding her and Hahn’s contributions. “It was a male-dominated sort of environment, and it was like, ‘Oh, aren’t you two cute?’
Today, Aniston and Reese Witherspoon star and executive produce acclaimed series The Morning Show, which is set to return for a third season this fall. The Apple Original series is backed by their media companies — Aniston’s and Hahn’s Echo Films and Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine.
“The material that I was interested in or she was interested in wasn’t really being made. And if it was, we weren’t the actresses getting the opportunities,” Aniston said. “So we were given the wonderful option of being able to create our own material.”
“You think about ownership as a woman in the media industry—it just didn’t exist,” Witherspoon added, when speaking about the industry’s climate at the time.
Behind the scenes, Aniston said they run a “chick club.”
“Being that we’re female, there’s a level of understanding, compassion and consideration that I think doesn’t always exist amongst the dudes,” Aniston shared of the show’s creative team.
When discussing her decision to leave her stake in Plan B, the TV producer said it was “the only decision. And not in a negative way. It just was what was right at the time.”
Aniston described that period in her life “a real shift in my life in terms of coming out from under the rubble of [her divorce]” and finding her work as “a real place of solace.” She switched managers and began working with Aleen Keshishian, who helped her change her approach to the industry.
“There was a time in my world, my career, where I realized it’s not being aggressive or combative or bitchy or emotional to stand up for what you deserve and what you want,” she said. “It’s a tough muscle to build. And also be loved and respected. It’s hard to achieve.”
Aniston also noted that she’s “so over cancel culture.”
“I probably just got canceled by saying that,” she told the outlet. “I just don’t understand what it means.… Is there no redemption? I don’t know. I don’t put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket.”
Aniston elaborated on her past experiences working with Weinstein. She said nothing inappropriate happened, but that she didn’t have fond memories of the disgraced movie producer.
“He’s not a guy, you’re like, ‘God, I can’t wait to hang out with Harvey.’ Never. You were actually like, ‘Oh, God, OK, suck it up.’ I remember actually, he came to visit me on a movie to pitch me a movie. And I do remember consciously having a person stay in my trailer,” she said.
Aniston, who split from Justin Theroux in 2018, also opened up about how her parents’ relationship impacted her personal life.
“My parents, watching my family’s relationship, didn’t make me kind of go, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do that,'” Aniston said of her parents, who divorced when she was young. “It’s just about not being afraid to say what you need and what you want. And it’s still a challenge for me in a relationship.”
Reflecting on her long career and navigating her life without college or much family help, Aniston said, “I feel like I am a self-made woman.”
When asked if there were any romantic prospects in her life, the Hollywood mogul replied, “My dog. That’s who I’m sleeping with.”
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