Justin Theroux Breaks Silence On Painless Break-Up From Jennifer Aniston

Justin Theroux Maniac

Justin Theroux has kept a notably low profile in recent months since his famous break-up with his wife, Jennifer Aniston. The Leftovers actor dodged a good bit of controversy, keeping himself away from social media (for the most part) and seemingly kept himself focused on his work and his private life. But that changed in a recent interview. Promoting his buzzy Netflix series Maniac, Theroux finally opened up about the divorce, which he considers to be "gentle," surprisingly-- particularly in the scheme of things. Here's how the TV actor described the heavily-discussed dissolve of his famous marriage.

The good news is that was probably the most -- I'm choosing my words really carefully -- it was kind of the most gentle separation, in that there was no animosity. In a weird way, just sort of navigating the inevitable perception of it is the exhausting part.

The conversation came up during Justin Theroux's recent personal and in-depth profile piece with The New York Times. While the focus is centered around Theroux's latest role on his newest series, Netflix's limited series Maniac with Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, the topic was bound to come up. Sure enough, the actor was resistant to say too much about such a private matter, but he did admit it was "amicable." Despite all the controversy that surrounded the surprising divorce news, Theroux claims that it's "boring" overall and that it was overall a pretty "painless" process in their relationship.

Again, neither one of us is dead, neither one of us is looking to throw hatchets at each other. It's more like, it's amicable. It's boring, but, you know, we respected each other enough that it was as painless as it could be. It was heartbreaking, only in the sense that the friendship would not be the same, as far as just the day to day. But the friendship is shifting and changing, you know, so that part is something that we're both very proud of.

It was back in February when the celebrity couple announced that their relationship was no more. Neither Justin Theroux nor Jennifer Aniston got into specifics about the separation, announcing in a statement that the decision was "mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year," but didn't get into any nitty-gritty details about the reasons why they decided to call it quits. Aniston and Theroux were married for a little more than two years, becoming engaged since 2012. They shared an open-hearted relationship together ever since they met on the set of Tropic Thunder, which Theroux co-wrote. Their loving relationship then became stronger when they worked alongside each other on the otherwise-forgotten 2012 comedy Wanderlust.

There are a couple explanations floating around for why Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston split. A number of them center around Los Angeles and New York City, with Theroux preferring NYC while Aniston liked it better in Los Angeles. That's where each actor currently presides, and they are still making the most of it away from each other, despite the circumstances of their divorce. We hope they stay good friends, especially if they're amicable.

Maniac is currently streaming on Netflix. Beyond that, Justin Theroux was also recently seen in this summer's The Spy Who Dumped Me. He also appeared in the Netflix film, Mute. He'll next be seen in the upcoming biopic On the Basis of Sex, which is expected to hit theaters later this year.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.