It’s 2019 and we’re apparently still comparing Jennifer Aniston & Angelina Jolie

Jennifer Aniston at the Los Angeles premiere screening of 'Murder Mystery'

It’s 2019 and Ian Halperin is still writing dumb crap about the Uncool Bermuda Triangle. What’s weird is that every time I’ve written about Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston in the past year or so, I feel a quiet relief that the gossip angle is no longer “Angie versus Jen.” Both women are past that. While both women insisted they were past it years ago, I feel like the combination of the Brangelina divorce and Jennifer’s fake marriage to Justin Theroux falling apart was the real end to the “Bermuda Triangle.” Angelina is done with Brad, and Jennifer seems done with “competing” with them in any way. Let’s just bury this sh-t. But no, Ian Halperin has a new biography of Jennifer Aniston and the preview of the book was one of the top stories on the Daily Mail last weekend. I guess a new generation has to declare their allegiance to Team Jolie or Team Aniston. For real.

According to New York Times bestselling author Ian Halperin, Jennifer Aniston is ‘having the last laugh’, particularly over old rival Angelina Jolie. It has been 18 months since Aniston ended her two-year marriage to The Leftovers actor Justin Theroux, and nearly 20 years since her ill-fated marriage to Pitt, which ended after he met Jolie on the set of Mr And Mrs Smith in 2004. There seems to have been no one since Theroux. But Halperin’s book, Friends With Benefits, claims the actress has invested in her ‘inner and outer health’ by spending £200,000 a year on therapy, yoga and laser skin resurfacing.

At one stage unfavourably compared with the alluring Jolie, Aniston has finally emerged from her shadow – and looks fabulous. One close friend told Halperin: ‘Who would have thought that Jen would have ever looked better than Angelina Jolie? That shows you in life it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. I’m so happy for her.’

Of the 350 sources interviewed by Halperin for the book, most say they’ve never seen the actress more happy, content and focused. ‘She doesn’t really seek happiness, she seeks well-being,’ one source said. ‘And clearly she’s accomplished that. She’s really grown as a person over the past few years. She lights up the room wherever she goes. She is a true Hollywood icon. I don’t think there’s been an actress who looked better than Jen at 50.’

Such accomplishments don’t come cheap. Jen’s skincare regime alone – including high-end facial oils and serums – cost £1,300 a month, while her hair highlights are £800 a time. Working with LA’s top fitness instructors costs around £3,200 a month, according to those close to the star, with similar sums spent on a diet coach and customised healthy meals. Six figures a year are spent on clothes and even greater sums on travel, which Aniston believes is ‘key to staying young and curious’.

[From The Daily Mail]

Wealthy, childfree, 50-year-old actress spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on therapy, haircare, skincare and body maintenance, how shocking! I mean… I think Jennifer looks good for her age too, but the quote about her “looking better than Angelina Jolie” makes me feel sorry for everybody involved in the continuation of this narrative. But that’s not all, because of course not. Halperin had to get some additional digs in about Angelina:

The public fallout from Aniston’s marriage to Pitt was prolonged and deeply affected her. She is said to have told friends that she will never speak to Jolie again, and Halperin claims the whole saga became ‘an insane Bermuda Triangle’ which left her ‘devastated and mentally torn’.

‘It’s been so hard for Jen, so difficult,’ Halperin said. ‘Nobody expects her to ever want to be in the same room as Jolie. It would just feel so awkward. Angelina stole her man. She also gave him so many kids while Jen and Brad struggled to have children. I don’t think Jen will ever open the door to Angelina again, under any circumstance.’

It did not help, either, that the two actresses were pitched against each other, with tattooed, bisexual Jolie portrayed as the desirable temptress and Aniston as the more down-to-earth spurned wife. But the reality behind the scenes was rather different. Halperin’s previous book on ‘Brangelina’, as the then-couple were dubbed, claims Jolie was, in fact, ‘quite jealous and insecure’. He wrote: ‘No matter how much Brad assured her, Angie, deep down, always feared he would go back to Jen.’ Halperin says Aniston made her famous appearance on the cover of men’s magazine GQ in 2009 – naked except for a strategically placed tie – as an exercise to ‘free her from all the torment she endured’ during the split from Pitt.

One of Aniston’s long-time colleagues told the author: ‘It was liberating, it was powerful for her. She needed to do it. She basically sent a strong message to Angelina that she was over the hurt and was liberated and feeling better than ever.’

[From The Daily Mail]
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7293445/200-000-year-therapy-daily-meditation-Poor-Jen-Aniston-laugh-Angelina.html

I’m just tired. I’m tired of this. I hope Angelina and Jennifer are tired of this too. There was a small revival of this crap back in February, when Brad Pitt attended Jennifer’s big 50th birthday blowout in LA, and many tabloids tried to make it sound like Jen and Brad were totally going to get back together. I think that with all the time that’s gone by – Aniston & Pitt literally split up 15 years ago – it’s time for everybody to let go. Please.

56TH EMMY AWARDS ARRIVALS

*FILE PHOTOS* Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are legally separated

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN and Backgrid.

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26 Responses to “It’s 2019 and we’re apparently still comparing Jennifer Aniston & Angelina Jolie”

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  1. Erinn says:

    Is her spray tan super wonky, or is it just me? Around her knees and feet it looks like it’s missing the kind of pigmentation the rest of her legs have.

    • Valiantly Varnished says:

      No it’s not just you. I mentioned this when this photo was first posted on a story a few weeks ago. It’s terrible. Her knees and feet look weird and patchy.

  2. Mumbles says:

    I heard a great podcast on Slate about the origins of this idiotic thing. The Pitt-Jen separation came just around the same time there was an explosion of weekly glossy celebrity mags – US was reincarnated as a weekly from a sleepy monthly, and the other ones quickly followed (In Touch, etc.). And these rags needed content badly. So every week it was another idiotic speculative article about these two women.

    What a nightmare for them. Brad isn’t in either of their lives (other than via Angie’s kids) and they’re still being defined somewhat by that common link. I feel worse for Aniston. Remember the big deal the rags made when she presented at some awards show and OMG Brad and Angie were there? And of course it’s a vicious cycle. They get asked about it. They say they don’t care. Then the story is “Jen says she doesn’t care….but is that true?” Start the questioning again. Rinse, repeat.

    • Becks1 says:

      I felt so bad for Jen at the time (and still do, not that I think she’s still crying over Brad, but I feel bad for 2004 Jen, you know?) not just with the cheating and public divorce etc – but all the speculation about how she didn’t want kids and that’s why Brad left her and why doesn’t she want kids well it must be because she is a cold heartless person and OH LOOK ANGIE IS PREGNANT!!! So much speculation on her uterus. It was sad.

  3. Sayrah says:

    Ugh this is so freaking old. Let it go dude. No one cares anymore.

  4. Wilma says:

    Maybe they should all vacation together on Cabo. Heads would explode.

  5. Becks1 says:

    Man I still remember where I was when I heard that Brad and Jen were divorcing lol. It’s hard now for people to remember – especially younger people – what a golden couple they were. Their divorce and the aftermath was shocking at the time.

    Anyway, all that to say – I doubt Jen wastes that much mental space on Angelina after 15 years and same is true for Angie. Its weird that its still being discussed even in gossip mags.

    • JanetDR says:

      Yep. It’s apples vs. oranges as far as comparing them. Two different women, different goals, different lifestyles – not exactly surprising. They are both fine and I wish them well!

    • ad says:

      Because they have nothing to write better, lazy journalism

  6. lucy2 says:

    It’s not just Halperin – many people still bring up one when discussing the other. It’s kind of ridiculous, as both women have moved on ages ago.

  7. Sierra says:

    Actually and finally, the top comments on DM blame Brad.

    It seems we have indeed moved on especially since people are willing to point out Jennifer cheated with Justin on Heidi so she has no moral rights to claim.

    As for Ian, he hates Angelina and has been trying to smear her for decades. He is nothing without her and he knows it.

  8. Valiantly Varnished says:

    Actually the big loser in this outdated triangle is Brad. Jennifer and Angie are BOTH living their best lives. Without him.

  9. Dali says:

    Interesting that he didn’t mention how justin dumped his long time girlfriend for Aniston.
    Whatsoever, i cannot believe that anyone is interested in this. There is a generation that doesn’t even remember that jen was ever married to brad, thats how old this is.
    I recently spoke to my 20 year old niece, she was surprised that jen , whom seh only knew from the movie dumplin and murder mystery on Netflix, was married to brad pitt.

  10. Valerie says:

    This is so pathetic. I remember when the comparisons started turning up in magazines and on TV, and I thought it was stupid then. These women have nothing to do with each other. The only thing they have in common is their respective relationships with Brad. It’s always the women who are targeted in discussions like this. And it doesn’t even need to be talked about! Silly.

  11. Jerusha says:

    They should pull a Liz and Debbie and work together.

  12. DiegoInSF says:

    I don’t think there’s been an actress who looked better than Jen at 50.

    Hmmmm, JLO? she looks decades younger than Aniston, I’ll always remember how a couple years ago I read a Radar Online story about Aniston obsessing over JLo’s pictures and asking what she does to look so youthful so she could do it. The next day after They posted it, I wanted to share it and it had been taken down which made me believe it was true.

  13. IT says:

    This will never end . As long as you have the media and people like Halperin who think they can get ratings, views, or a freaking penny from made up books and stories. Angelina has never thought that much about Jen except the beginning when people called her a homewrecker, even Jen and gave Brad a pass. UGH.
    Jen is much more insecure because she has the mommy issues about how she looks and people poured that on her like an avalanche when Brad popped up with Angie. The Angie looks better comparison. So that had to hurt her and badly and the fact Angie got pregnant pretty fast. But I doubt she cares anymore.
    The fact that even as late as last years GG’s they were running the story about Angelina not looking at Jen onstage with Carol B. I mean how stupid and childish can people be.
    There is friction betwix these too, why shouldn’t there be. But not to the extent the media wants u to think.
    I can’t believe how ignorant Halperin sounds about who looks better and how much she spends. Angie looked bad months before she filed. She was super skinny at the KFP premiere and I knew then something was going on. She has always be thin, long and lanky arms with slim hips. She talked about her odd body before. But that god darn face is exquisite, muhaa.
    Jennifer has the better body and tan because she is short and thicker. But her face is cute not goddess like. Sorry. They both are beautiful women. Both flawed, both rich, both happier without the man people want them to fight over. He has issues and it seems Angie found out after the start of a family and Jen knew but didn’t care about as long as she had him. Isn’t that something.
    I have always said if other people would get out of it things would have progressed naturally.

  14. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    “I don’t think there’s been an actress who looked better than Jen at 50” — that’s one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time. Has this man never seen Halle Berry when SHE turned 50? Or Michelle Pfeiffer? Or Sharon Stone? Or Angela Bassett? Or literally dozens of other actresses who looked better than Aniston at the 50 mark? I mean, it’s not like Aniston looks BAD — her fake tan, artificially straightened hair, artificially colored hair, nose job, skin resurfacing, and God knows what else — has her looking good at 50. But let’s get real, she was never one of the best-looking actresses.

  15. whatWHAT? says:

    1) their marriage didn’t end when Pitt and Jolie met on set. from all reports, their marriage was dying or dead, and him meeting Jolie was the impetus for him to break up with Aniston.

    2) REGIMEN, not REGIME, Daily Fail. REGIMEN. one is a process or schedule to follow and one is an authoritarian government.

    3) MEN CANNOT BE STOLEN.

  16. SM says:

    Wow. Someone needs to get fired or have some consequence for coming up with this article. Where to even start? That women need to live their lives ruled by rivalry? Faulting a single working mother of 6? Promoting looks as one and only accomplishment in life for women by which the success in life is measured? Shifting all blame for whatever possible affairs the men have to women?

  17. Supernova says:

    Doesn’t the book sound like it ticks all the boxes though, for celebrity trash books? They usually contain enough quotes and verifiable facts to draw you in for an afternoon’s junk-fest read but with enough dumb flourishes (love triangle, competition, etc) to make you chuckle. Halperin seems to be a trashier version of that Andrew (Morton?) guy who wrote on Diana. The rivalry’s long dead and I think they’re both older ladies doing very well in HW (Jen with netflix and bunch of high-paying shows and Jolie back to acting with the Marvel stuff), though Jolie had some personal and publicity challenges recently she’s overcome. Jen looks fantastic and her rescue dog stories made me like her more than before and I always thought she was a better actor than credited.