Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon reveal what they'd be doing if they weren't actors
In an alternate timeline, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon might not have become two of the most famous and most successful stars in Hollywood.
So what would they be doing if they never became actors?
"I was gonna be a doctor, for sure," Witherspoon told us while promoting their new Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, which she produced with and co-stars in with Aniston. "I wanted to be a pediatric cardiologist."
Born in New Orleans and raised in Nashville, Witherspoon is the daughter of two doctors: Her father, Dr. John Draper Witherspoon, was an otolaryngologist until 2012, and her mother, Dr. Betty Witherspoon, was a labor-and-delivery nurse before becoming a professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University. Reese "could have been a doctor, if she wanted to," her mother has said. The future Oscar winner initially attended Stanford University as an English lit major before leaving school to pursue acting.
"There was a time when I wanted to become a psychiatrist, a shrink," said Aniston. "Because I'm curious about peoples' feelings. And then an interior designer. Or a talk-show host."
Aniston grew up in Sherman Oaks, in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, the daughter of two actors. Her father, John Aniston, starred on the soap opera The Days of Our Lives for many years, and her late mother, Nancy Dow, appeared in the '60s television shows The Beverly Hillbillies and The Wild Wild West.
Witherspoon and Aniston both play broadcast news journalists in The Morning Show, another career path they both could have seen themselves following.
"I could've been a journalist, I'm very curious," said Witherspoon.
"[I ask] a lot of questions, yeah," agreed Aniston.
Their co-star Steve Carell has played multiple journalists now, though usually of the fake (The Daily Show) or bumbling (Anchorman, Bruce Almighty) variety, he doesn't think he could be one in real life.
"No, I'm not smart enough," he cracked.
The Morning Show is now streaming on Apple TV+. Watch the cast talk about how the show was reworked in the wake of #MeToo:
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