Jennifer Aniston on the red carpet © Lionel Hahn

Jennifer Aniston highlights negative reactions to appearance online as she shares powerful message from famous friend

The Hollywood star has had her say

US Managing Editor
February 8, 2024

Jennifer Aniston is a loyal friend and often speaks out about causes she's passionate about on social media. 

Most recently, the Friends actress took to her Instagram page to throw her support behind her friend and fellow actress, Julia Roberts, after a new video centered around her comments on anti-ageing remarks has gone viral. 

Back in 2018, Julia had spoken to Oprah Winfrey for Harper's Bazaar about some unkind comments that had been left on a photo shared by her niece, Emma Roberts, of the pair of them. 

Comments had focused on Julia's age and appearance, and were negative, causing Julia's feelings to be hurt. 

After a fan made a video with Julia's voiceover talking about the incident, and a montage of photos accompany it, several celebrities have re-shared it, with Jennifer being the latest to do so. 

Jennifer Aniston showed her support for Julia Roberts
Jennifer Aniston showed her support for Julia Roberts

"I love this and YOU @juliaroberts," she wrote alongside the footage, which was posted on her Stories. 

On Wednesday, Ali Wentworth shared the now viral footage on her own Instagram account. She wrote alongside it: "Thank you to the incredible @juliaroberts for being spot on about the corrosive nature of social media and its effect on younger generations. As a parent who did not grow up with it, it is the Wild West trying to figure out how to scaffold our children from the dark side of social media." 

© Kevin Winter
Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston are good friends

Julia had spoken about how the comments had made her feel in a rare personal interview the year she joined social media. 

She said: "Something did happen recently on my niece Emma’s Instagram that I think taught me a lot about what it’s like being a young person in today’s society. 

© Christopher Polk
The A-listers go back years

"One weekend morning Emma slept over, and we got up and were having tea and playing cards and having this beautiful morning, and then a couple of days later she posted a picture of us. 

"And the number of people who felt absolutely required to talk about how terrible I looked in the picture -- that I'm not aging well, that I look like a man, why would she even post a picture like this when I look that terrible! 

"And I was amazed at how that made me feel. I’m a 50-year-old woman and I know who I am, and still my feelings got hurt. I was sad that people couldn’t see the point of it, the sweetness of it, the absolute shining joy of that photo. I thought, 'What if I was 15?'" 

She continued: "I was so happy that happened because I had this whole new glimpse into a way of living that I didn’t get at all. You have to go through things to understand them, and this was just a little paper cut of what can really go on with social media."

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