Jennifer Aniston has revealed whether her secret presidential romance is actually true.
On Wednesday, October 2, the Friends alum appeared on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she ran through a list of tabloid rumors about herself over the years – revealing which ones were real.
Among the many bizarre rumors was that she had a relationship with former US president Barack Obama. During the episode, Kimmel pulled out an August 2024 copy of In Touch magazine with a cover story titled: “The truth about Jen and Barack!” Below the headline, one line read, “Michelle betrayed as Aniston steals her husband’s attention,” while another claimed that Aniston and Obama are “obsessed with each other.”
At the time, a source was quoted in the article saying that the two of them were spending more time together. “With the election coming up in November, Jen has gotten very political, so sheʼs found herself in Barackʼs world a lot lately,” the source said. “Heʼs gone Hollywood, so heʼs now in Jenʼs world. He has production deals going [with Netflix]. They have found they have a lot in common — and are talking more and more.”
However, a representative for The Morning Show actor ended up debunking the rumor shortly afterward. “Of all the calls you get from your publicist where you’re like, ‘Oh no, what’s it gonna be?’ Or the emails saying some cheesy tabloid’s going to make up a story and then it’s that,” Aniston recalled to Kimmel. “I was not mad at it.”
As she clarified that the rumor was not true, she noted: “I know Michelle [Obama] more than him.”
While Aniston debunked the Obama romance rumor, she did admit to some of the other viral rumors about herself – like receiving a salmon sperm facial. “Don’t I look like a salmon? Don’t I have beautiful salmon skin?” she joked to Kimmel.
The Emmy winner also confirmed that she has traveled abroad while carrying jars of olives, and that she has a plastic bag filled with her dead therapist’s ashes. “Can I plead the… it’s a little true,” the Marley & Me star said. “Oh, I’m gonna sound like I really need a therapist after this. It’s a long story.”
In a 2012 interview with GQ, Aniston explained how she got the ashes. “I have my therapist[’s ashes] in a bag. She thought of me sort of like a daughter, and I thought of her sort of like a mom,” she said at the time. “I went to her funeral. They split her up into little Ziploc bags they handed out like party favors.”
Aniston went on to admit that when she was a child, she did have a piece of her artwork hanging inside New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. Kimmel also asked her whether her family members would make her belly dance as part of a Christmas Eve tradition. “Anytime, not just Christmas Eve,” Aniston replied.
“The Greeks love any kind of a family dinner. Yes, they would say, ‘Let’s get up and watch,’” she revealed. “I get such anxiety when friends do that to their children because of the inner trauma from having to perform and belly dance in front of my great aunts and uncles and grandmothers.”