Taken from Cable Guide by Martyn Palmer http://www.cableguide.co.uk/
February 2000 issue.

As one half of Hollywood's 'Golden' couple, Jennifer Aniston is painfully aware of the Pitt-falls of too much press attention.

These days Jennifer Aniston is not quite such good friends with the press. She seems to regard interviews with journalists in the same way a trapped fox eyes up a pack of baying hounds.

The trouble is, not only is she a star in one of the world's most successful sitcoms - Friends - but she also happens to have a boyfriend who's just as famous as she is. With the possible exception of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Aniston and her partner Brad Pitt are the celebrity couple of the moment.

That, of course, has led to an awful lot of press attention and, she would have you believe, a hell of a lot of nonsense being written about them. "I've come to believe that there is some guy in his little office trying to write something that will make you feel bad, and that's his purpose for the day," she complains. "Ninety per cent of the time, it's wrong. There was one story about how anorexic, that was pretty absurd."

It's a shame because, when she does let her guard down, Aniston, who's 31 this month, comes across as a lot of fun and rather charming. But when it comes to asking her about Mr Pitt, the defences and hackles are raised. Mention that in a recent interview he described her as gorgeous, sexy and 'complicated', and she's none too impressed. "I don't know what he means by that. You would have to ask him. But I hope it's something good. I don't know if it's just me that's complicated. I think everybody is. Everybody is just trying to figure it all out." So how would she describe Brad then? "I can't do that. I don't know how." So there you go. Which promptly puts paid to asking if it's true that they're planning to marry next year. On other subjects she is rather more forthcoming.

There is an obvious between Aniston and her Friends co-stars CCA, LK, MLB, MP, & DS. They really are pals off screen as well as on - when Cox married David Arquette last June, the Friends mob were all at the top of the invitation list. The bond, says Aniston, comes from the fact that the six of them really know what it's like to have lived the Friends roller coaster ride, which has rocketed them into the most famous people in the World bracket. "No one else can sympathise, no one else can understand it," she says. "People go: 'Wow, they are so lucky, they've got it all.' Whereas we go: 'This is crazy, this is wild, what does this mean? Is it real? None of it is real..."

She adds that her life away from work is becoming increasingly important to her: "My home, my house, my life, myself, my evolution as a human being. I read, I paint, I work in the garden. My personal life becomes more and more precious."

Not that she isn't happy with life on Friends. Far from it. In fact they all seem delighted the way the new series has developed. And as usual, the story line of whether Ross and Rachel will finally get back together is still bubbling away. "I think part of the fun and the conflict in the show is how long can we keep these two people apart. It makes it interesting. People sort of forget about the whole Ross and Rachel thing and then we resurrect it and it's like: 'Oh yeah, it's those two...'"

Because people are always interested in romance, aren't they? Just ask Jennifer.