Jennifer Aniston doesn’t want your pity, says Kristin Hahn in Elle. Following her 2005 divorce from Brad Pitt, she’s had a series of failed relationships, most recently with the notoriously noncommittal singer John Mayer. The world, she knows, views her as a victim of love. “Yeah, that archetype has definitely attached itself to me,” she says. “And you know what? It’s fine; I can take it. I support women, men, anybody who is in a place that’s not their strongest, and who is ready to push forward. If I’m the emblem for ‘This is what it looks like to be the lonely girl getting on with her life,’ so be it. I’m not going to ignore the pink elephant in the room.” At 40, Aniston views love and romance with lowered expectations. “Look, in my life the reality is I’ve been the one running out of the room as much as I’ve been portrayed as the one left in the room. I’m also not suggesting that longevity is always the best measure of success, because I’ve had relationships—friendships and romances—of every imaginable length that have been fulfilling. Most of us fall in love with someone’s persona and spend the next three to five years discovering who that person really is. I’ve been a real student of this theme for the last 20 years.”
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