UPDATE (2/11/20, 5:14 p.m. ET): The release of Jennifer Aniston’s Interview Magazine spread was a total surprise for the cover star herself! “Thank you @interviewmag for this birthday surprise. I had no idea this would be coming out today,” the Friends star gushed on Instagram the day she turned 51 years old. She added, “Feeling proud and honored to be celebrating with this cover. Thanks to the Interview team for celebrating women at every age… turns out 51 is pretty fun.” Jen even thanked her “sister from another mister,” Sandra Bullock, “for talking to [Jen] about whatever the hell [they] were talking about” (Sandra interviewed Jen for the special magazine feature). Jen sweetly added, “I love you so much. ”
ORIGINAL: 51 and fierce — Jennifer Aniston couldn’t have looked better gracing the cover and spread for Interview Magazine‘s March 2020 issue and profile on the actress, published digitally on Feb. 11 — which happened to be Jen’s 51st birthday. In a slew of images, photographed by Alique, Jen posed up wearing everything from a slinky black dress with a midriff cutout, to a blush colored bralette and pencil skirt. One dramatic black and white image even featured The Morning Show star donning a black leather jacket with knee high black boots, a pair of incredibly short shorts and virtually nothing else! She also sported a breezy ensemble, which featured a white dress shirt, black blazer, and belted black short shorts as she strutted her stuff against a gray backdrop. Jen totally showed that, at 51, she can still model like any other. But it’s what she revealed in the issue that also has fans talking.
In a series of questions posed by her pal, Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, Jen got quite candid about the intimate details of her life, and how she consistently maintains the sunny disposition fans have grown to love. “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,'” she revealed. Jen’s childhood became torn when, at nine-years-old, her parents, actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow, separated.
Jen went on to explain that she didn’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,” in reference to her time growing up. “So I guess I have my parents to thank,” she quipped to Sandra. “You can either be angry or be a martyr, or you can say, ‘You’ve got lemons? Let’s make lemonade.'”
And Jen really has made lemonade out of her sugary, sweet, and surprising life! Although she has openly discussed her personal pitfalls, the actress had a 2019 and 2020 that truly saw her surge. On Jan. 19, she took home the Screen Actors Guild award for her work on The Morning Show, earning the honor 24 years after she first received a statuette from her contemporaries for her work on Friends. 
For Jen, being a part of a new, exciting series that “people say so many nice things about” is a thrilling new chapter to her incredible career. Regardless of the box-office draws, the praise from critics, or disdain from fans, Jen has “never had it take me down because, well, that’s not gonna be the thing that takes me down.”ncG1vNJzZmign6G5usPOqJuloZaae6S7zGhpaWpgZH1ze5BqZqOdnqO2p7HRZpinoaOpvK95yKernqqmnrK4ecyanpqymaOybrzHqKuoZaOdvLDAjKmgnKtf