Jennifer Aniston opens up about 'cathartic' role on Apple TV's 'The Morning Show'
The star explained how her character's life imitates her real-life struggles
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jennifer Aniston opened up about her “cathartic” role on AppleTV’s “The Morning Show” and the many ways it mirrors her real life.
The actress stars as Alex Levy, a female anchor of a morning talk show that has to fight for her position as anchor after her partner of several years is removed due to a sexual misconduct scandal. The series sees Aniston’s character forced to assert herself and maintain her public image, even in the face of adversity, injustice and a male-dominated industry that constantly underestimates her.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Aniston said that when reading the script she felt the show was therapeutic for a generation like hers that is just now starting to speak up about things like gender discrimination and sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry.
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“That show was 20 years of therapy wrapped into 10 episodes,” Aniston, 51, told the outlet. “There were times when I would read a scene and feel like a whole manhole cover was taken off my back.”
Actress Jennifer Aniston attends the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 26, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (C Flanigan/Getty Images)
The “Friends” star, like her character, can relate to having her every move scrutinized by the public. She explained that she relates on a deeply personal level to the moments in the show when Levy is forced to pretend she’s fine when she’d much rather step out of the spotlight altogether.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Cathartic, yes, and also interesting for me to look at how I always have tried to normalize being fine and ‘everything’s great, you know, this is all normal,’ and then there are moments when you have your private breakdown or your ‘Calgon, take me away’ moments,” Aniston explained. “To actually look at it from an actor brain observing it and acknowledging it, I had to look at it as opposed to pretending it doesn’t exist.”
Specifically, she was asked about a scene in the show in which her character has a breakdown on a red carpet, saying she's had similar moments in real life.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jennifer Aniston opened up about her role on AppleTV's 'The Morning Show.' (Getty Images)
“There have been moments — not to that level of hysteria — but moments of ‘I don’t want to f—ing go here,’ ‘I don’t want to walk out onto the carpet,’ ‘I don’t want to be seen,’ ‘I don’t want to be looked at and everyone’s going to be talking about me and judging me’ ... that’s real,” Aniston said. “I just loved being able to walk into it and lean into it and not be ashamed of it.”
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The “Friends” actress clearly broke away from her sitcom roots for the heavy media drama. “The Morning” show earned her an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actress in a drama series. This marks her first nomination in the drama field. She was previously nominated five times for her role as Rachel Green on “Friends,” taking home one win, as well as a guest appearance on “30 Rock.”