Jennifer Aniston recently appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast and remembered her father, the late actor John Aniston, and urged people not to follow in his footsteps professionally. John Aniston starred on the soap opera Days of Our Lives for nearly 40 years.
“My dad told me, ‘Don’t do it, you’ll just suffer from rejection,'” Aniston said. “‘Just find a job. Find a real job.’ It’s all cliche.[But]whatever it is that drives you, if you find a passion for something and you love it, do it.”
Aniston said it was natural for her to want to pursue the same professional career as her father, rejecting the idea of being a “nepobaby.”
“I mean, look at all the law firms. Blanky blank, blanky, and blanky blank. I mean, okay, isn’t that the whole family version? It’s the whole family,” Aniston said. “So maybe you got in the door because you’re so-and-so’s kid, but what if it sucks? You’re not going to keep doing it.”
Aniston told Vanity Fair earlier this year that she became an actor despite her father’s disapproval and spent much of her career trying to convince him, adding: “I always wanted pop approval. That’s what drove me.”
Fortunately for Aniston, she didn’t have to face much rejection in Hollywood after her career exploded thanks to NBC’s “Friends.” However, Aniston turned down another NBC sitcom, “Saturday Night Live,” shortly before accepting the role of Rachel Green.
When asked by “Armchair Expert” host Dax Shepard why she turned down “SNL,” Aniston said, “I always thought I was a really hot asshole. The story behind that is very confusing.”
“Honestly, I have to ask Lorne today because I remember I was in New York and I was having a meeting with Lorne Michaels and I ran into (Adam) Sandler and (David) Spade in the room right outside, and I’ve known Sandler for a long time,” Aniston said. “I don’t know why I was so self-righteous. I said, ‘I don’t know if women are treated the way they should be treated on this show. This show is very male-dominated. If it was Gilda Radner Day, I’d love to be here.’ I mean, it’s a semi-memory brain that goes that far back. Something like that. I don’t remember, but I just remember that ‘Friends’ happened at the time.”
You can watch Aniston’s full interview on the Armchair Expert podcast in the video below.
