For three decades, Jennifer Aniston and her best friends have been doing the same ritual — something that the Friends alum calls a “goddess circle.”
Aniston, 50, explained the unique practice during an interview with The New York Times published on Tuesday, September 10. She and her gal pals sit cross-legged on cushions on the living room floor and pass around a beechwood talking stick adorned with various feathers and charms.
“Should we just call it a circle?” she asked the newspaper, apparently worried about using the term “goddess” in a story about herself.
The Morning Show star revealed that she circled before her weddings to Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux in 2000 and 2015, respectively. She also did the ritual when her friends’ babies were born and when she and Theroux, 48, had to put down their beloved dog, Dolly, in July.
Aniston views the “goddess circle” as a celebration of how far she (and her friends) have come and as a way to commemorate a new chapter.
The actress and six of her girlfriends also circled in February, the night after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing before arriving in Mexico for Aniston’s 50th birthday trip.
“It’s so weird. There’s so much doom around that number,” she told the Times of her milestone birthday.
Aniston and Pitt, 55, were married until 2005, and she and Theroux have been separated since 2017. Pitt, for his part, went on to date his Mr. & Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie. He and the Maleficent actress, 44, tied the knot in 2014 alongside their six children: Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 11. Pitt and Jolie split in 2016 and became legally single in April.
