Reese Witherspoon says she bonded with Jennifer Aniston while nursing her baby on 'Friends' set
Nearly 20 years after playing sisters on Friends, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston are once again sharing the small screen. And ahead of the Nov. 1 premiere of their new Apple TV+ series, The Morning Show, Witherspoon is revealing how she first bonded with her famous co-star.
In an interview with Natalie Portman for the November issue of Harper’s Bazaar, the 43-year-old cover star shares how she was a new, and very young, mom when she was cast to play Rachel Green’s spoiled younger sister, Jill, on the NBC hit in 2000. Witherspoon, then married to Cruel Intentions co-star Ryan Phillippe, had given birth to daughter Ava in September 1999, and was nursing and pumping on the Friends set.
“I was 23 years old and had just had a baby,” Witherspoon tells Portman. “I was nursing Ava on set, and Jen just kept going, ‘You have a baby?’ I was like, ‘I know, it’s weird.’ And I remember her being like, ‘Where are you going?’ And I was like, ‘I’m pumping!’”
While Witherspoon’s new mom juggling act was something of a struggle, she says Aniston made her feel welcome.
“She was so sweet to me,” she says. “I was really nervous, and she was like, ‘Oh, my gosh — don’t worry about it!’ I marveled at her ability to perform in front of a live audience like that with no nerves. They would change all the lines and she was just so effortlessly affable, bubbly and sunny. We’ve been friends ever since.”
Witherspoon also spoke about continuing to balance motherhood — she now has three kids — with her Hollywood career and other projects.
“Let’s be real,” she says. “Every working mother is still figuring these things out. But, honestly, I think women who are incredibly busy are the most productive people in the world. If I ever needed something done, I would ask the busiest woman I know.”
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