Jennifer Aniston sort of says she loves John Mayer, feels protective of him

The full Jennifer Aniston interview with Vogue Magazine, due to come out as a cover story in their December issue, is now available online. Yesterday a few tidbits from the interview leaked but it's a lot more revealing to read them in context. I think Aniston comes off as much more human and conflicted than the two dimensional character she's been portrayed as in the tabloids. There seems to be a kernel of truth in some of the gossip reports, though, and she expresses that she's understandably upset at Angelina Jolie's public deconstruction of the start of her relationship with Aniston's ex, Brad Pitt, who famously happened to be married to Aniston when he fell for his co-star. Aniston also reveals that her relationship with John Mayer is deeper than you may believe, at least from her perspective, and says she feels protective of him:

On her tabloid persona: it bothers me but I'm happy and trying to live with it

Woody Allen recently said in an interview that 'thoughtful people don't take the tabloids seriously. They're basically a form of entertainment.' Aniston knows this, but it still feels to her like a cross to bear. 'You basically watch my life,' she says as we eat our chopped salads. 'It happens in front of you. And I can protect it and try to control things only to a certain extent. I think what I'm doing now is letting go of the reins a little bit and saying, ‘It is what it is.' But there is more to me than just a tabloid girl. This whole ‘Poor lonely Jen' thing, this idea that I'm so unlucky in love? I actually feel I've been unbelievably lucky in love. Just because at this stage my life doesn't have the traditional framework to it'the husband and the two kids and the house in Connecticut'it's mine. It's my experience. And if you don't like the way it looks, then stop looking at it! Because I feel good. I don't feel like I'm supposed to be any further along or somewhere that I'm not. I'm right where I'm supposed to be.'

On her troubled relationship with her mom and wanting kids

Aniston resists drawing any comparisons [from Marley and Me] to her real life, especially when it comes to wanting children. (When I ask her point-blank about it, she grows visibly irritated. 'I've said it so many times: I'm going to have children. I just know it.') But talking about the film does shed some new light on her relationship with her parents. When I mention that she is very good at portraying the bickering and fighting of couples on film, she says, 'That is so funny. I just mimic my mother. That woman, when she got mad, was scary. I don't know if I ever really get mad in real life. It's what my shrink was saying to me all those years: You need to get mad! I think rage is so ugly. I just think there's a way to be mad and discuss it.' Famously estranged for more than a decade, Aniston and her mother are in the middle of a slow, careful reconciliation that began after Aniston divorced Pitt. 'She's changed,' says Aniston. 'She's humbled with age. She fell in love. At 73 years old. I'm like, No, no, no, no, no! I don't want to hear how great the sex is!' She puts her fingers in her ears. 'I got, I got, I got it, I got it!' (When I ask after her father, the soap-opera actor John Aniston, she says, 'He's in Topanga Canyon, still on Days of Our Lives'my white-haired papa, handsome, gorgeous man that he is. Always asking me to do something for the Greek community.')

On He's Just Not that Into You, in which her character asks on-screen BF Ben Affleck to marry her.

When I tell Aniston that I really enjoyed the film, she expresses genuine surprise. 'You did?' It quickly becomes apparent that it's not necessarily that she doesn't like the film; it's the subject matter that makes her squirm. 'I liked my story line, but....' She stammers and sputters. 'I don't know. I don't...like...girls...whining...and complaining...about...wanting a man! I never liked Sex and the City, the kind of thing where women only feel empowered once they find the Man. It is just not up my alley. I don't believe in it. There is nothing you can control about love. Somebody once said, Everything you want in the world is just right outside your comfort zone. Everythingyoucouldpossiblywant!'

On Vince Vaughn helping her get through a difficult time

These days, the public fascination with her relationship with Vince Vaughn seems almost quaint. I ask her if there's anything else to be said about that time. 'I call Vince my defibrillator,' she says with genuine affection. 'He literally brought me back to life. My first gasp of air was a big laugh! It was great. I love him. He's a bull in a china shop. He was lovely and fun and perfect for the time we had together. And I needed that. And it sort of ran its course.'

On her relationship with Mayer: it just happened

'Barely knew his music,' she says. 'And then we ran into each other a week later, and that was that.' The two began dating'Aniston flew to England to join him on his tour; they took a well-documented vacation to Miami'and partly because of Mayer's past relationships with Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Love Hewitt, the paparazzi went bananas. Many people questioned Aniston's judgment; Mayer, after all, is nine years younger and has a bit of a...reputation. To which Aniston says, half kidding, 'People need to mind their own business! Did you ever think Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield made sense?' She laughs, knowing that this has the potential for a good parlor game. 'Did Susan Anton and Dudley Moore make sense? Wait! I got more! Did...did...did...Madonna and....' She trails off. 'I don't want to get a dog in that fight...but we'll think of more.' We both laugh, and then she gets more serious. 'But you know, it isn't designed. Love just shows up and you go, ‘Oh, wow, this is going to be a hayride and a half.' '

On Mayer's rant to the paparazzi: he had to make it known that he dumped me, sort of says she loves him

'He had to put that out there that he broke up with me. And especially because it's me. It's not just some girl he's dating. I get it. We're human. But I feel seriously protective of him and us. Trust me, you'll never see that happen again from that man. And it doesn't take away from the fact that he is a wonderful guy. We care about each other. It's funny when you hit a place in a relationship and you both realize, We maybe need to do something else, but you still really, really love each other. It's painful. There was no malicious intent. I deeply, deeply care about him; we talk, we adore one another. And that's where it is.'

On Brad Pitt: she's genuinely happy for him, has made peace with the divorce and had long talks with him

'Well, it never was that bad,' she says, knowing that it will be hard for a lot of people to believe. 'I mean, look, it's not like divorce is something that you go, ‘Oooh, I can't wait to get divorced!' It doesn't feel like a tickle. But I've got to tell you, it's so vague at this point, it's so faraway in my mind, I can't even remember the darkness. I mean, in the end, we really had an amicable split. It wasn't mean and hateful and all of this stuff that they tried to create about Brad can't talk to Jen and Jen can't talk to Brad because this person won't allow it. It just didn't happen. The marriage didn't work out. And pretty soon after we separated, we got on the phone and we had a long, long conversation with each other and said a lot of things, and ever since we've been unbelievably warm and respectful of each other. Whoever said everything has to be forever, that's setting your hopes too high. It's too much pressure. And I think if you put that pressure on yourself'because I did! Fairy tale! It has to be the right one!'that's unattainable.'

On Angelina Jolie: she says a lot of things off the record, and indicates that she's more pissed off than she's admitting

When I ask her about Angelina Jolie, Aniston asks me to turn off the tape recorder for a moment. Suffice it to say, if there is never any love gained in the first place, there can be no love lost. But she did want to put a few things on the record. (Funnily enough, they involve some of the same issues brought up by the recent profile of Jolie in The New York Times, in which she talks about falling in love on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.) She asks me if I ever saw a cartoon that appeared in the New York Post a couple of years ago that depicts Aniston talking on the phone in her kitchen. The bubble over her head says, HI ANGELINA...I DECIDED TO TAKE YOU UP ON YOUR OFFER OF A 'SIT-DOWN TALK.'...In the drawing, Aniston is loading a shotgun, and there is a copy of Vogue sitting next to her. (The cartoon was inspired by an interview I did with Jolie for this magazine in January 2007 in which she said she would welcome the opportunity to 'sit down' with Aniston.) Someone sent Aniston the cartoon ('the funniest thing I've ever seen,' she says), and afterward, she could not resist the urge to buy a copy of Vogue to see what the fuss was about. What really rankled Aniston about the piece was that Jolie felt the need to recount a detailed timeline of exactly how her relationship developed on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, while Aniston was still married to and living with Pitt. 'There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening,' says Aniston. 'I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss.' Aniston, still galled, shakes her head in disbelief. 'That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool.'

[From Style.com/Vogue]

Aniston really opened herself up here, and as many of you pointed out the tabloids are going to be feeding off this for weeks. She did confirm some of the points that the gossip magazine have been making for a while - that she wishes Angelina wouldn't have said those things and that Mayer talked about their breakup in order to make it known that it was his idea. Maybe in her own way she's trying to gain control over what is said about her, and assumes that if the tabloids are going to run with things they may as well come directly from her. I like that approach and think it will work well for her.

I don't think it's fair the way Aniston has been characterized as 'pity party' and it's refreshing to hear her talk so honestly and kind of shrug her shoulders about everything. She has a lot of movies coming out and her career is in full swing despite the fact that she's turning 40, which ageist Hollywood considers the twilight of most women's careers. I hope to see her triumphant and successful in both her personal and professional life. If she knows what's good for her though, she'll close the book on the Brad and Angelina chapter in her life. It sounds like she's already moved on but that some bad feelings understandably linger. She hasn't said much about it until now and her response seems more reactionary than anything else. I know I don't blame her.

Photos from Style.com/Vogue

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