Jennifer Aniston once shared how John Aniston abandoned her and her mother Nancy Dow
Jennifer Aniston had a strained relationship with her late father John Aniston who left her when she was just nine years old.
The Friends alum later reconciled with her father, but described in an interview that she was “shocked” when the Days of Our Lives star abandoned her and her mother, Nancy Dow.
In a 1999 interview with Rolling Stone, Aniston recalled heartbreaking details of when her father left and didn’t contact her for nearly a year.
“My mum told me. I went to a birthday party, and when I came back she said, ‘Your dad isn’t going to be here for a little while,'” the Morning star said. Show.
“She didn’t say he was gone forever. I don’t know if I blocked him, but I just remember sitting there crying, not realizing he was gone.
“I don’t know what I did later that night or the next day. I don’t remember anything other than it was weird that all of a sudden my dad wasn’t around. And he left for a while.
“He just called one day and said, ‘Let’s go see The Fantastickes.’ So we had dinner for a bit and saw the show. After that, I started seeing it on the weekends, and this new way of life unfolded,” she said.
Jennifer then revealed that she once asked John why he left his mother, but he did a terrible job of explaining what broke their family.
“Like I said, he’s not a good communicator. Maybe if my parents had talked more. There were signs, but also, knowing my dad, he probably didn’t say anything,” Jennifer noted.
“But, as best he could, my father explained himself and apologized, and that’s enough. We reconciled. There are still parts that are difficult for me, but I am an adult. I can’t blame my parents anymore,” she added.
However, when the superstar was asked what John taught her about fatherhood, she couldn’t help but joke, “He wasn’t here to do that.”
Although she said her bond with John was healed after a while, Aniston reportedly didn’t invite him to her wedding to Brad Pitt in 2000.
A few months before John breathed his last, Aniston paid him a heartfelt tribute by presenting him with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy Awards in June 2022.
