Jennifer Aniston has been on the screen since 1990, with her most notable role of course being Rachel Green on Friends. And while most of her roles throughout her career have been bubbly, quirky characters, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s been an easy road for the 49-year-old actress. And Us Weekly is revealing that thanks to therapy Jennifer has been able to barrel through.

Jennifer has an upcoming Netflix film titled Dumplin’ which focuses on a former Texas beauty queen trying to deal with having a very complicated relationship with her daughter. And that is something that Jennifer can relate to as she recently said, “It really resonated. It was about this little girl wanting to be seen and wanting to be loved, and a mom who was too occupied with the things that didn’t quite matter because she didn’t know any better.” Jennifer had her own issues with her mother Nancy Dow, and she has been very open about it.

“She was very critical of me,” Jennifer said of her mother who passed away in 2016 after battling a long illness. “Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn’t — I never was. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty.” Even though Jennifer’s relationship with her mother had quite the impact on her, Jennifer reveals that it was thanks to therapy that she was able to get through it. “It takes a lot of therapy, but you do absolutely get over it,” Jennifer said at a Hollywood Foreign Press Association event, adding that she realized her mom’s hypercritical behavior “was her projection. It had nothing to do with me.”

Jennifer Aniston
Getty Images

And Jennifer has needed therapy because it has been a couple of rough years for her, mainly because of her divorce to Justin Theroux, which of course led people to criticize her failed marriage. “I don’t love being famous [because] I don’t love the negativity [and] judgment that comes along with it,” Jen explained at the same event. “I don’t know if that’s the internet and faceless people being able to have a platform, but I think it just makes it grow like a cancer.” A source recently revealed that Jennifer is “very comfortable with where she is” in life after the divorce though, so that’s good news for good old Rachel.

As for the Dumplin’ experience, 27-year-old actress Danielle Macdonald (who of course was awesome as Patti in Patti Cake$) had this to say about her onscreen mom: “She’s just really warm. I instantly felt comfortable with her. [Jen and I] spoke about her past experiences and her experiences growing up. [The] connection between us was really effortless.”

Even though she’s had her fair share of ups and downs, it’s a great thing to hear that Jennifer has used therapy to get her through the rough patches.