Next Jen

Twenty-five years since Friends captured a generation, Jennifer Aniston is making her much-anticipated return to the small screen in a gripping female-fronted drama. She talks work, life and love with Kimberly Cutter

- Kimberly Cutter

“Hi, it’s me,” says Jennifer Aniston when she calls.

“I just got into my sauna.”

“You’re in the sauna?”

“Yep, my infrared sauna,” she says playfully.

Infrared saunas, apparently, are all the rage in Hollywood at the moment, beloved for their ability to make the body sweat quickly and intensely, while working all kinds of health wonders. “It’s fantastic. I do it after I finish training,” says Aniston. “You get all drenched in sweat, then you jump into an icy-cold shower and you feel incredible.”

For all of her well-known frustrations with the press, it seems Jennifer Aniston still likes having a bit of a flirt with the world. She’s on the phone to talk about her new project, Morning Wars (The Morning Show in the US), an hour-long drama from Apple TV+ streaming service about a Sunrise-type news program that’s thrown into turmoil in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The series co-stars Reese Witherspoon and marks Aniston’s major return to TV since Friends ended in 2004. It’s also one of Apple’s first forays into prestige TV and promises to be one of the tastier offerings this spring, with Aniston and Witherspoon playing dueling co-anchors as it explores the cutthroat world of New York news media through a female lens, tackling subjects such as ageism and sexism head-on. “I feel incredibly lucky to be part of it,” says Aniston. “It’s one of the most beautiful gems you could find.”

In general, Aniston seems remarkably happy and carefree these days. She turned 50 this year – as Friends celebrated its 25th anniversary – and both are riding high in a way few might have predicted.