More Power To Jennifer Aniston

Tuning out the noise while blazing a trail for herself and others, Jennifer Aniston is looking to the future with a renewed focus

- Phoebe Watt

It’s already been a year of milestones for Hollywood golden girl Jennifer Aniston. First, the actress who shot to fame on ’90s sitcom Friends celebrated her 50th birthday at a star-studded bash with Amal Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow and ex-husband Brad Pitt among the guests. Then, her most recent film, Murder Mystery, in which she stars alongside Adam Sandler, enjoyed the biggest-ever opening weekend for a Netflix original film, with more than 30 million accounts tuning in during its first three days.

Fifteen years on from her history-making run as the highest-paid actress on television (alongside Friends’ two other female leads, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow, a position achieved thanks to Jen’s role in pushing for a group salary negotiation that saw each of the six core cast members receive the same pay throughout the show’s 10-year run), Jen remains every bit a badass – and a feminist powerhouse who continues to bat for women on and off-screen. Later this year, the star who once interviewed Gloria Steinem at a female leadership summit will take the spotlight in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show alongside friend and fellow Hollywood trailblazer Reese Witherspoon. Reese is also on a mission to bring female stories to the fore, doing so most recently with Big Little Lies, and both women are executive producers on the new series, which delves into the inherently sexist world of breakfast television.

“Through the prism of those under-slept, over adrenalised people in front of and behind the camera, we take an honest look at the complex relationships between women and men in the workplace, and we engage in the conversations people are a little too afraid to have unless they’re behind closed doors,” said Jen at an event in March.

Canary in the mine