Jennifer Aniston, the philosopher, post second divorce

Two ‘unsuccessful’ marriages later, Hollywood star Jennifer Aniston’s take on love and relationships mirror new-age thinking. Aniston had found love and happiness twice only to be disappointed. Her conjugal innings with Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux ran their natural course and like any self-respecting individual, the 50-year-old opted for an honourable exit. The same cannot be said of her ex’s ex — Pitt’s Jolie — who had waged a full-on custody war over their children. Unlike Hollywood with tidy last acts, real life scenes can be messy and ugly, full of vitriol accompanied by a fair amount of bloodletting. Ask Pitt who claims to be more relieved than ever now that he and Angelina are finally divorcing.

Celebrity weddings stoke as much curiosity as high-profile divorces. The former is a checklist of the rock around the finger, wedding trousseau, guest lists and, of course, the gala. The latter is about expensive settlements, running into millions, and washing some dirty linen in public to whet the public appetite for salacious details. The cottage industry surrounding marriage and divorce of celebrity couples is thriving.

Alongside the circus, you will find the Anistons offering a few nuggets of wisdom that end up serving as inspiration for the star-struck. Heartbreaks make philosophers out of celebrities and commoners alike. Aniston is playing the role to the hilt. “I don’t feel a void. I really don’t,” she says while tackling one of the most pressing problems in the wake of a divorce: Loneliness. She has confronted what the feeble-hearted would steer clear of: “Fear of being alone. Fear of not being able to survive. To stay in a marriage based on fear feels like you’re doing your one life a disservice.” Many marriages run on habit even when they have run out of love, passion and mutual feelings of respect — the bedrock on which successful relationships are built. “Some people are just built to be wives” but she claims to be different, like scores of other successful women who preferred career and freedom to the life-long engagement of motherhood.

Despite all the fame and riches, Aniston is still a girl trying to rationalise the end of a 10-year-old association — three years of marriage and seven years of being a couple — with Theroux. “When the work has been put in and it doesn’t seem that there’s an option of it working, that’s okay. That’s not a failure.” But she still hasn’t ruled out the possibility of starting a family because in the heart of hearts she wants to fall in love yet again and start a family with the man she loves. 

In Hollywood, the journey from a dream wedding to a painful divorce can last only a few hours. Less than 55 hours after marrying her childhood friend, Britney Spears was single again. In 2004, the singer wed Jason Alexander in Las Vegas, but then quickly got the marriage annulled, claiming that she “lacked understanding of her actions”.

Aniston is right: Enjoy the ride as long as it lasts.