Jennifer Aniston says she finds relationships challenging partly due to her parents' divorce

We often underestimate the intensity of the effects that events from our childhood can have on the kind of adults we become. Scars from when we were kids can often reflect on the relationships we have with those around us as grown-ups. The case in point is the Hollywood superstar Jennifer Aniston. In a recent interview with Wall Street Journal, Aniston spoke about her love life. She talked about herself and how her family dynamics made her who she is, and about the kind of love she hopes for in the future.

The 54-year-old actress is super versatile on the screen, and we love her in romantic comedies. In real life, however, she admits that her love life hasn't exactly been a smooth ride. She said that her rocky relationship with love could potentially be a result of her parents' divorce. She was only 11 years old when her parents, John Aniston and Nancy Dow, separated in 1980.

"It was always a little bit difficult for me in relationships, I think, because I really was kind of alone. I don't know. My parents - watching my family's relationship - didn't make me kind of go, 'I can't wait to do that,'" Aniston admitted.

Aniston says that she didn't like the idea of sacrificing who you were or what you needed, and so she never really knew how to do it either. "So it was almost easier to just be kind of solo. So I didn't have any real training in that give-and-take," she explained.

Her personal choices and life aside, there's something very relatable yet refreshing about Jennifer's honesty. That said, all her feelings aren't just feelings. There is actual evidence-based research that shows how children of divorce, often lack a very optimistic approach in life towards marriage when they become adults. In fact, they also sometimes have a lower commitment to maintaining romantic ties, which often causes a lack of trust.

Talking to Interview in February 2020, she opened up about her childhood scars and called her childhood home "destabilized" and "unsafe." She added, "Watching adults being unkind to each other and witnessing certain things about human behavior made me think, 'I don't want to do that. I don't want to be that."

Despite the difficulties and struggles, Aniston has found love through the years. The last person she was linked with was Justin Theroux. After two-and-a-half years of marriage, the couple decided to part ways in February 2018. Before this, she was married to Brad Pitt for five years, from 2000 to 2005, after being in a relationship with him since 1998. She also dated Vince Vaughn and John Mayer after her first divorce. While she has dated a few of the most famous men around her, she hopes that her next partner is relatively low-key.

In her own words, as she told People in 2021, "What I'm sort of hoping for is not necessarily somebody in the industry itself. That'd be nice." When asked if she would want to get married again, she said, "It's not on my radar. I'm interested in finding a fantastic partner and just living an enjoyable life and having fun with one another. That's all we should hope for. It doesn't have to be etched in stone in legal documents." We hope the same for you, Jen!