Jennifer Aniston revealed that the backhanded compliment she often gets – people praising her for how good she looks for her age – drives her “bananas.”
During the 54-year-old actress’s interview with British Vogue, the “Friends” star said one thing she “can’t stand” is when someone says to her, “You look great for your age.”
“It drives me bananas, I can’t stand it,” Aniston said.
“That’s a habit of society that we have these markers like, ‘Well, you’re at that stage, so for your age …’ I don’t even understand what it means,” she added.
Jennifer Aniston, 54, reveals the ageist ‘compliment’ she cannot stand. https://t.co/EkFcSJ3sgz pic.twitter.com/eYWGg5a75O
— Page Six (@PageSix) June 9, 2023
“I’m in better shape than I was in my 20s,” Aniston continued. “I feel better in mind, body and spirit. It’s all 100 percent better.”
The “Horrible Bosses” star said people in her family live to be very old and longevity means more to her than just being alive.
“My family lives a long time, especially my dad’s side,” Aniston said. “I want to be thriving; I don’t want to just be alive.”
In a 2021 interview with Yahoo Life, the actress said her approach to self-care herself has changed over the years, admitting that, now that she is older, she realizes she took a lot of things for granted.
“I think I’ve now become more aware,” Aniston said. “We take so much for granted when we’re in our 20s and 30s, when self-care is like, ‘Oh, I’ll sleep when I’m 80.'”
“No. You need to sleep now,” she added. “You need to start meditating now. You need to be mindful now. If you don’t incorporate that into your body at a young age, it shows. I look at my older relatives and I see them aging. Universally, every single human being, we can’t get away from it. We are all growing older no matter what, but we don’t have to grow sick. We don’t have to grow old and not be thriving.”
Later in the interview, Aniston talked about how she feels society should change its views when it comes to aging.
“It’s like, alright, you’re this age, so now this is the time when you go off to pasture because you actually are of no use to us anymore, to society,” Aniston said. “I think we need to stop putting ages next to people’s names. I’ve never understood that. I’d much rather my height! It’s like we’re a carton of milk with an expiration date[,] and I think we need to figure out how to re-message all of that…”