All The Things Jennifer Aniston's Exes Have Said About Her

After Jennifer Aniston rose to fame as Rachel Green on "Friends," her fresh-faced look and girl-next-door personality made everyone fall in love with her. While Green's "lobster" was ultimately Ross Geller, played by David Schwimmer, Aniston's real-life romances were sprinkled with many famous faces. Despite being a Hollywood A-lister, the reason Aniston has never attended the Met Gala is so relatable, and we're not surprised many of her exes still talk fondly about her years after their relationships ended.

While dating and splitting up in the public eye can't be easy, Aniston has always led with being gracious about all her exes. And they've mostly done the same as well, save for the time Brad Pitt made it appear as though their marriage was unhappy. However, the two are good now, and even consider each other buddies. Being someone everyone wants as a friend just further proves that she has a certain charm that can't be faked, and despite Jennifer Aniston dressing for revenge after leaving a few broken hearts in her wake, her exes have had plenty of good things to say about her.

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were once Hollywood's golden couple until their very public split in 2005. Amid the "Moneyball" star seemingly moving on very quickly with Angelina Jolie, Aniston told Vanity Fair a year later, "There's a sensitivity chip that's missing," and it seems she was right. In a 2011 interview with Parade, Pitt implied that he wasn't very happy with himself during his time with his then-wife, stating, "It became very clear to me that I was intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn't living an interesting life myself. I think that my marriage had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn't."

After the cringe revelation, Pitt issued a statement that praised Aniston for being a great person who was still in his life, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but that I was becoming dull to myself — and that, I am responsible for," he added. It seems that there was no harm done, and in 2020, Pitt told ET while at the Golden Globes, "I'll run into Jen. She's a good friend." We love when celebs show that there's a way to have a successful friendship with your ex.

Many "Friends" fans may recall Tate Donovan's brief time on the show as Rachel Green's love interest who was blissfully unaware of her crush. He and Jennifer Aniston had electric on-screen chemistry and shared many hilarious moments, but in real life, the two were going through a breakup at the time. The "Space Camp" actor told HuffPost Live in 2013 that right after their split, the "Friends" producer asked him to come in for a few episodes. "It was horrible. It was so tough ... I remember just getting back to my dressing room and just weeping," he laughed.

During their two years together, Donovan recalled what it was like being with such a huge star, even across the pond. "When we went to England together, it was like being with a Beatle. We had to say we were having reservations at one restaurant and then go to another. There were fake cars and everything, all to avoid the paparazzi," he revealed to The Independent.

Justin Theroux was Jennifer Aniston's second husband, with their relationship beginning in 2011 after starring in "Wanderlust" together. Sadly, the two split in 2018, but there were no scandals or a torrid affair attached to their divorce. Theroux told The New York Times that year, "The good news is that was probably the most — I'm choosing my words really carefully — it was kind of the most gentle separation, in that there was no animosity." He continued, "Again, neither one of us is dead, neither one of us is looking to throw hatchets at each other. It's more like, it's amicable. It's boring, but, you know, we respected each other enough that it was as painless as it could be."

While Theroux has been tight-lipped about the reason for his breakup with Aniston, many wondered if their different lifestyles contributed to it, but he shut down the rumors three years after their divorce. "Look, people create narratives that make themselves feel better or simplify things for them. That whole 'This person likes rock 'n' roll, that person likes jazz. Of course!' That's just not the case. It's an oversimplification," he told Esquire. The exes are still friends, and Theroux revealed that they talk and video chat often. "Like it or not, we didn't have that dramatic split, and we love each other," he declared.

Following her split from Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston starred in an aptly-named film called "The Break-Up" with Vince Vaughn, and their on-screen romance turned into the real deal. However, don't expect the "Old School" star to gush about his relationship, especially when put on the spot. While visiting the "Late Show with David Letterman" in 2006, the host congratulated Vaughn on dating Aniston, to which he replied, "It's very nice of you to say that, Dave, thank you. Yeah, it's been kind of interesting for me, and I just choose not to talk about my private life that much publicly" (via CBS News). When pressed for more details, he elusively answered, "I'm not saying we are or aren't a couple. I think she's great, but I just don't discuss whether we are."

Aniston and Vaughn's fling was short-lived, with the two only staying together for a year. As reported by Page Six, he revealed to Playboy Magazine in 2015 that he wasn't comfortable with all the fanfare. "For me personally — and I think most well-known actors who are together feel this way — I never enjoyed the paparazzi side of it," he admitted. Vaughn added, "You like someone, and you're spending time with them; that's separate, and that was all fine. But I really spent most of that time finding ways not to be drawn into the attention."

Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer were only nine years apart, but that was understandably significant for a 30-year-old and 39-year-old. The former couple had an on-again, off-again relationship for a year beginning in 2008, and it turned out that technology played a part in their split. "One of the most significant differences between us was that I was tweeting. There was a rumor that I had been dumped because I was tweeting too much. That wasn't it, but that was a big difference," the singer told Playboy (via JohnMayer.info). He continued the shade: "The brunt of her success came before TMZ and Twitter. I think she's still hoping it goes back to 1998. She saw my involvement in technology as courting distraction."

Mayer had previously told reporters in New York City that there was no drama during his first breakup with Aniston, and that it was simply due to their clashing personalities, per People. "People are different, people have different chemistry. I ended a relationship to be alone, because I don't want to waste somebody's time if something's not right," he shared.