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Jennifer Aniston Had a “Brief, Torrid Romance” With Her Ferris Bueller Show Costar Charlie Schlatter in 1990

Jennifer Aniston, Charlie Schlatter and Ami Dolenz
Jennifer Aniston had a "brief, torrid romance" with her 1990 Ferris Bueller TV series costar Charlie Schlatter

Bueller? Bueller? Long before Justin Theroux or even Brad Pitt swept Jennifer Aniston off her feet, another man romanced the then-future A-list superstar: Charlie Schlatter, her costar in the short-lived 1990 TV adaptation of the classic John Hughes film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Related: PHOTOS: Costar couples

Called simply Ferris Bueller, the NBC sitcom starred Schlatter in the title role (played memorably in the movie by Matthew Broderick), and a pre-Friends Aniston in the role of his sister, Jeannie (Jennifer Grey in the film).

GQ Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson was a comedy writer's assistant on the project, and in a new piece for the May issue of his magazine, he reveals that the two stars had a "brief, torrid" romance during the show's 13-episode run. (It was canceled midway through its first season.)

Related: PHOTOS: Jen's Us Weekly covers

"To Aniston worshippers, I can offer little dirt," Nelson writes of the Cake actress, now 45. "She was lovely, kept to herself on the set, smoldering a bit like her outraged character, 17-year-old Jeannie Bueller. She was a brunette then, with none of Rachel Green's bob or self-possession," he adds, referring, of course, to her character on Friends.

The one bit of gossip he can offer is about her love life. "GQ can exclusively report that everyone on set thought she was hot, including Schlatter, with whom she had a brief, torrid romance—while playing, it must be said, his older sister," Nelson recalls of the costars. "To we immaturions on the show, this seemed extra-hot. Like performative incest."

Related: PHOTOS: Jen and Brad, the way they were

Alas, their relationship—like their show—was not meant to be. Four years after their fling, Schlatter, now 47, married Colleen Gunderson, with whom he has three children. And Aniston found mega-fame with Friends, and then love with ex-husband Pitt, to whom she was married from 2000 to 2005. She also dated another TV costar, Tate Donovan, who briefly played her boyfriend on Friends. She's currently engaged to actor Theroux, with whom she appeared in Wanderlust.

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