Among Jennifer Aniston's intimate circle of friends is someone most people might not expect.

In an interview for Vanity Fair's September cover story published on Aug. 11, name drops for the celebrities that "The Morning Show" star counts as good friends ranged from Jason Bateman to Jimmy Kimmel and Sandra Bullock.

But, she revealed, her inner circle also includes her ex-husband Brad Pitt's ex-fiancée, Gwyneth Paltrow.

The two met while Aniston's "Friends" costar David Schwimmer was filming "The Pallbearer" with Paltrow, she told the magazine. And "ironically, I went to her and Brad (Pitt)'s engagement party," Aniston, 56, said.

"Oh, of course," the actress replied when asked whether they ever talk about their shared ex. "How can we not? We’re girls." But, more than anything, "we’re always swapping advice — 'What are you doing for this? What are you doing for that? Do you have a new doctor for that?'"

Paltrow, 52, and Pitt, 61, were a Hollywood it couple after costarring in David Fincher's 1995 film "Se7en" and were engaged in 1996. They split a few months later. At the height of her "Friends" fame, Aniston married Pitt in 2000; they divorced in 2005. The "Fight Club" actor began a relationship with "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" costar Angelina Jolie soon afterward.

Calling this era of her love life being splashed across tabloids "the love triangle," Aniston told Vanity Fair her survival strategy was to "Just pick yourself up by the bootstraps and keep on walking, girl."

"It was such juicy reading for people. If they didn’t have their soap operas, they had their tabloids," she said. "It’s a shame that it had to happen," she added of the public nature of the breakup, "but it happened. And boy did I take it personally."

These days, her focus is on "metaphysical things and 'What if there’s something bigger out there than all of us?'" Of fame, she said: "It’s not real. ... My interests are other than that."

Jennifer Aniston was 'mourning' Mathew Perry before death

Elsewhere in the interview, Aniston shared how she and other "Friends" costars attempted to help Matthew Perry as he battled addiction over the years.

Perry died in October 2023 at 54. He was found unresponsive and face-down in the "heated end" of his pool, and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office later revealed that his cause of death was due to "the acute effects of ketamine."

"We did everything we could when we could," Aniston told Vanity Fair. "But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight. As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there's a part of me that thinks this is better."

"I'm glad he’s out of that pain," she added.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jennifer Aniston says 'Friends' cast was already mourning Matthew Perry before death

Reporting by KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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