Justin Theroux admits he still feels ‘protective’ of ex-wife Jennifer Aniston

Justin Theroux has revealed that he still feels “protective” over his former wife Jennifer Aniston, six years after their split.

The actor, 53, was first romantically linked to the Friends star, 55, in 2011 and the pair married in 2015. They announced their break-up in 2018, describing their decision to part ways as “mutual and lovingly made”.

In an interview with The Times, the Leftovers star was asked to share his thoughts on Aniston’s recent criticism of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, after he made derogatory comments about “childless cat ladies”.

“She is still very dear to me so of course, yeah, I feel protective,” he told the paper. “But she batted back criticism, as well she should.”

In a resurfaced interview from 2021, Vance had told Fox News that the United States was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too”.

He went on to namecheck politicians such as Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and asked: “How does it make any sense we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”

Vance’s remarks, which he later tried to brush off as “sarcastic”, were quickly met with backlash.