He may be newly engaged but Justin Theroux still has feelings for his famous ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston.
Seven years after their highly publicised split, the 53-year-old actor says he still feels “protective” over the Friends star, to whom he was married from 2015 to 2017.
“She is still very dear to me,” he told The Times recently.
He also praised her response to Senator JD Vance's recent derogatory comments about women who choose not to have children (he called them “childless cat ladies”), adding, “Of course, yeah, I feel protective but she batted back criticism as well she should.”
The former couple waited until February 2018 to publicly reveal their divorce, saying that there was no ill will between them and they planned to “remain friends”.
Justin and Jennifer in one of their last public appearances at the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar party in Los Angeles. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images)
In subsequent years they have done just that and Justin is said to have been a huge source of support for her when she lost her father, Days of Our Lives star John Aniston, in November 2022.
“Justin called her almost every day to console her,” an insider told Daily Mail.
But while Jen has yet to find love again, Justin – who is part of the cast of the new Beetlejuice Beetlejuice movie – has found love with actress Nicole Brydon Bloom.
READ MORE | Jennifer Aniston ‘still supported’ by ex Justin Theroux as she continues to grieve her dad’s passing
He proposed while in Italy and the striking beauty (30) flaunted her four-carat diamond engagement ring at the Venice Film Festival where she joined Justin at the premiere of the new film.
Justin and Nicole Brydon Bloom at the world premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at the Venice Film Festival. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Nicole, who is an actress, flaunted her new diamond sparkler at the Venice Film Festival. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images)
The cast of the new Beetlejuice Beetlejuice movie boasts a string of big names. From left: Catherine O'Hara, Monica Bellucci, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Justin Theroux. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Justin, who plays Rory in the Tim Burton film, admits he was anxious to pop the question.
“Of course I was nervous proposing. It is a question after all so the answer isn’t guaranteed. But it was wonderful,” he told The Times.
The couple have kept their romance largely on the down-low after first being spotted together at a Netflix event in New York in February 2023.
Six months later they were seen on a dinner date and in June they attended the wedding of actors Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup in Mexico City.
Nicole's screen credits include roles in TV series such as The Golden Age, Law and Order: SVU and The Affair.
