Jennifer Aniston got candid about her turbulent childhood in a tell-all interview with Harper's Bazaar UK, sharing that her parents used her as a "pawn" in their nasty divorce. The 56-year-old is the only daughter of soap star John Aniston and sitcom actress Nancy Dow, with the pair marrying in 1965 and divorcing in 1980 when Jennifer was just nine years old. "Their divorce was not amicable in any way, shape, or form, and it was a time when there wasn't a lot of awareness of how to behave for the sake of the kid," she explained.
"That was the least of [their] worries – it was more, how could they hurt each other? And I was just a pawn." Despite the pain of her parents' divorce, Jennifer shared that John and Nancy were "ridiculously funny people" and that she grew up "around a lot of laughter". Her father was best known for starring as Victor Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives on and off for 37 years, and also appeared in shows like The West Wing, Gilmore Girls and Mad Men.
Meanwhile, Nancy made her name with roles in The Beverly Hillbillies, The Wild Wild West and The Ice House. Jennifer previously revealed to Interview magazine that "growing up in a household that was destabilized and felt unsafe" allowed her to build resilience and learn how to deal with heartbreak. She remained close to her father until his death in November 2022, and even accepted his Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement Award that same year.
"This is truly a special moment for me," the Friends star said. "It's an opportunity to not only pay tribute to a true icon in the daytime television world, but it's also a chance to recognize the lifelong achievements of a great and well-respected actor, who also happens to be my dad." Unfortunately, she shared a far more difficult relationship with her mother, and explained that the divorce had a lasting effect on Nancy.
"She was a model, and she was all about presentation and what she looked like and what I looked like," Jennifer told The Sunday Telegraph in 2018. "I did not come out the model child she'd hoped for, and it was something that really resonated with me: this little girl just wanting to be seen and wanting to be loved by a person who was too occupied with things that didn't quite matter."
© Getty ImagesNancy wrote about their tense relationship in her 1999 memoir, From Mother and Daughter to Friends, which prompted Jennifer to cut ties altogether. "I never thought my mom would not know my husband," she told Diane Sawyer in a 2004 interview for ABC News, referring to Brad Pitt, whom she was married to from 2000 to 2005.
© GettyJennifer and Nancy reportedly reconciled following her divorce from Brad and remained in each other's lives until Nancy's passing in 2016. "I forgave my mom," she told Allure in 2022. "It's important. It's toxic to have that resentment, that anger. I learned that by watching my mom never let go of it. I remember saying, 'Thank you for showing me what never to be.'"
© Getty ImagesWhile Nancy never said "I do" again after her divorce from John, she was previously married to Jack Melick from 1956 to 1961, and shared a son, John T. Melick III, with him. Jennifer's dad remarried after Nancy to Sherry Rooney in 1984. The couple welcomed one son, Alexander Aniston.
