Jennifer Aniston Says She Grew Up in 'a Household That Was Destabilized and Felt Unsafe'

Jennifer Aniston is opening up about feeling “unsafe” in her childhood.

During a recent interview conducted by Sandra Bullock for Interview Magazine, Bullock remarked that the Friends actress — who turned 51 on Tuesday — has “a way of pushing joy and positivity.”

“What is it that allows you to stay buoyant and keep from getting discouraged when things don’t go the right way?” Bullock, 55, asked Aniston.

“First of all, that was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me,” Aniston said. “I think that it comes from growing up in a household that was destabilized and felt unsafe, watching adults being unkind to each other, and witnessing certain things about human behavior 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.'”

The actress continued: “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.'”

Aniston’s parents, Nancy Dow and John Aniston, divorced when she was nine years old.

John, 86, is best known for portraying Victor Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives, while Dow — who died in 2016 — acted in shows like The Beverly Hillbillies and The Wild Wild West.

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The Morning Show star has previously opened up about her complicated relationship with her mother. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph in 2018, Aniston compared their relationship to a “similar” mother-daughter relationship that was portrayed in her 2018 Netflix movie Dumplin’.

“One of the reasons I really loved the mother-daughter aspect of it was because it was very similar in a way to what my mother, and our relationship, was,” Aniston said at the time.

“She was a model and she was all about presentation and what she looked like and what I looked like,” Aniston continued. “I did not come out the model child she’d hoped for and it was something that really resonated with me, this little girl just wanting to be seen and wanting to be loved by a mom who was too occupied with things that didn’t quite matter.”

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In December, Aniston celebrated the Christmas holiday with a throwback photo of her father John.

“Christmas with one of my creators,” the Golden Globe-nominated actress captioned the post. “Then and now #TBT. Love you, papa ??.”