Jennifer Aniston reveals reason for huge 30lb weight loss at start of her career

The Friends star dropped a whopping two stone

jennifer aniston

Jennifer Aniston has always been pretty perfect in our eyes, but apparently that's not the case for others.

In Saul Austerlitz's book, Generation Friends: An Inside Look At The Show That Defined A Television Era, Saul said Jen’s agent told her to lose weight if she wanted to be successful in the industry: "She had to lose thirty pounds if she wanted to stay in Hollywood. Los Angeles was a tough place to be an actress – it was a tough place to be a woman – and Jennifer Aniston's agent was reluctantly travelling with her."

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He continued: "Aniston was hardly fat – everyone could see she was beautiful – but as the show she would one day become indelibly associated with later made a point of noting, the camera added ten pounds."

Jen also opened up about her weight loss. In an interview in 1996 with Rolling Stone, she quipped: "I ate too many mayonnaise sandwiches.

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© Photo: Getty Images

Jennifer Aniston in 1990

"My agent gave it to me straight. Nicest thing he ever did – the disgusting thing of Hollywood – I wasn't getting lots of jobs because I was too heavy."

Like us, though, she could hardly believe what she was hearing at first.

"I was like, 'What?!'," she said. "But my diet was terrible. Milkshakes and French fries with gravy. It was a good thing to start paying attention.

"It was amazing to see this thing emerge. I never knew I had this body in me."

© Photo: Getty Images

Jennifer Aniston at the SAG Awards in 2020

She looks epic both before and after TBH, but we agree a diet of "milkshakes and French fries with gravy" probably isn't that great for you.

Now, Jen is practically the epitome of health – she often speaks out about her approach to exercise in interviews, and also occasionally documents her fave meal recipes on Instagram. All hail Jen.

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