Three years after announcing the end of their marriage, Justin Theroux says that he and ex-wife Jennifer Aniston remain very close friends and even regularly FaceTime and text.
In his new cover interview for Esquire, the actor revealed, “I would say we’ve remained friends. We don’t talk every day, but we call each other. We FaceTime. We text. Like it or not, we didn’t have that dramatic split, and we love each other. I’m sincere when I say that I cherish our friendship.” He explained, “We can not be together and still bring each other joy and friendship. Also, she makes me laugh very, very hard. She’s a hilarious person. It would be a loss if we weren’t in contact, for me personally. And I’d like to think the same for her.” He concluded, “I think that when you get good at relationships — and here I am, single — if you love the person the same way you loved them in the relationship, it would behoove you to love them the same way out of the relationship.”
Aniston and Theroux first started dating in 2011, getting engaged a year later, and secretly marrying in a backyard ceremony in August 2015. Two and a half years later, the pair announced their separation via a statement that reiterates much of what Theroux told Esquire this month. “This decision was mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year. We are two best friends who have decided to part ways as a couple, but look forward to continuing our cherished friendship,” the announcement read. “Normally we would do this privately, but given that the gossip industry cannot resist an opportunity to speculate and invent, we wanted to convey the truth directly. Whatever else is printed about us that is not directly from us, is someone else’s fictional narrative. Above all, we are determined to maintain the deep respect and love that we have for one another.”
A few months after that, Theroux addressed the breakup directly in the New York Times, saying that it was “the most gentle separation, in that there was no animosity,” adding, “it’s amicable. It’s boring, but, you know, we respected each other enough that it was as painless as it could be.” But that doesn’t mean that the end of their relationship wasn’t difficult. “It was heartbreaking, only in the sense that the friendship would not be the same, as far as just the day to day,” he said. “But the friendship is shifting and changing, you know, so that part is something that we’re both very proud of.”
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