Justin Theroux reveals the advice he got when he started dating Jennifer Aniston

Justin Theroux has revealed the sage advice he was given by Horrible Bosses star Jason Bateman when he started dating Jennifer Aniston a decade ago, and it really is pretty wise.

Theroux and Aniston first got together back in 2011 after working on the film Wanderlust together, and the relationship became the focus of a lot of media and fan attention, something Theroux addresses in a recent interview on Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist.

When asked how he coped with the sudden attention he got when he and Aniston got together, Theroux revealed that he was actually given some advice by her Horrible Bosses costar Jason Bateman.

"I think part of me was like, you know, I'm essentially sort of a character actor and a writer, there's not much there," Theroux explained. "Jason Bateman actually once gave me one of the most sage pieces of advice ever when all that was kind of going on.

"He said, 'Look, in that side of the entertainment industry, a character is about to be born and that character is you, but it's not you. That character is, you know, angry, that character has got a problem, that character is, you know, sweet. It's just this little soap opera that gets written in the margins.' And he said, 'And so my advice is, don't follow that guy's storyline'.

"And it was a good piece of advice because I stuck to it," Theroux said. "And that's the only way you can sort of keep sane and all that."

After four years of dating Aniston and Theroux got married in a secret ceremony at their home in Bel Air in August 2015, with Justin revealing details about the ceremony two years later in 2017. However, the relationship was not to be and they announced their divorce in early 2018.

Recently Theroux opened up about why he and Aniston split after seven years together, clarifying that there had been no dramatic reason for the breakup.

"Like it or not, we didn't have that dramatic split, and we love each other," he told Esquire. "I'm sincere when I say that I cherish our friendship. We can not be together and still bring each other joy and friendship. It would be a loss if we weren't in contact, for me personally."

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