Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston broke everyone's hearts when they announced their separation back in February. Now, for the first time since the split, Justin is admitting that it was "heartbreaking" for him, too.
Married for two years, Justin and Jen were the quintessential "bad boy meets wholesome girl" couple. Seven months ago, they released a joint statement announcing that they "are two best friends who have decided to part ways as a couple."
Then they quietly moved on and began dating other people. Meanwhile, fans' hearts? Still broken.
Jennifer gave her own take on things in the September issue of InStyle.
"With all due respect, I'm not heartbroken," she said.
And now, Justin Theroux has finally broken his own silence about the breakup.
"It was heartbreaking," he told the New York Times. "Only in the sense that the friendship would not be the same, as far as just the day to day."
Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston announced their separation seven months ago.
They released a joint statement, which described their amicable decision to split.
"This decision was mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year," the statement read.
"In an effort to reduce any further speculation, we have decided to announce our separation. We are two best friends who have decided to part ways as a couple, but look forward to continuing our cherished friendship. Normally we would do this privately, but given that the gossip industry cannot resist an opportunity to speculate and invent, we wanted to convey the truth directly."
After releasing the statement, both stars were tight-lipped about their separation.
Jen, 49, broke her silence briefly to say that "with all due respect, I'm not heartbroken."
“The misconceptions are ‘Jen can’t keep a man,’ and ‘Jen refuses to have a baby because she’s selfish and committed to her career,'" Jen told InStyle.
“Or that I’m sad and heartbroken. First, with all due respect, I’m not heartbroken. And second, those are reckless assumptions. No one knows what’s going on behind closed doors."
Now Justin, 47, has opened up about his own feelings about the divorce for the first time in an interview with the New York Times.
"It was heartbreaking," Justin said. "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."
Justin continued, "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."
But Justin says all the news headlines can be tiring.
"In a weird way, just sort of navigating the inevitable perception of it is the exhausting part," he said.
"These are actually in reality small events that take place. But everything can feel like 10 on the Richter scale if you make the headline big enough and salacious enough.”
Justin cleverly dodged the question of whether he's seeing anyone or not, though he's been linked to both Aubrey Plaza and Emma Stone since the split.
Meanwhile, Jen was reportedly dating two men back in July.
So all's well that ends well.
