Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesJennifer Aniston is one of the most famous actresses of all time, forever topping the A-list charts and lists of the world's most beautiful. But despite that massive fame and wealth, the 47-year-old star really is just one of us.
For example, she was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy this weekend, and yet she still managed to stay grounded. She made it a point to connect with the audience and let them know that—regardless of the awards and the spotlight and the hype of Hollywood—she, too, has suffered from self-doubt.
And this isn't anything new for Aniston. Throughout her many years in the industry, she's continued to prove that fame hasn't protected her from the trials and tribulations of life, figuring out who she is among everyone else in the world and sometimes even questioning her purpose on this planet. She's battled over beauty, marriage and motherhood, and she's had to figure out her own path to take it all on—just as we've had to do.
With that being said, here at 15 of her inspirational quotes that prove she really is just like us:
On Self-Doubt: "We're all human beings at the end of the day, whether we're a waitress or a baker or a student or whatever we are, at the end of the day you kind of can hit walls and think I can't go any farther. Or this is too much. My heart can't take it or the pain is too great, or am I good enough? Will I survive?" she said at the Giffoni Film Festival. "And you just have to sort of somehow miraculously overcome. You just go, ‘I can't, yes I can, yes you can.'"
On Making Your Own Decisions: "We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone," she said in an Op-Ed for The Huffington Post.
On Cultural Standards: "Sometimes cultural standards just need a different perspective so we can see them for what they really are—a collective acceptance... a subconscious agreement," she also said in her Op-Ed. "We are in charge of our agreement. Little girls everywhere are absorbing our agreement, passive or otherwise. And it begins early."
On Self-Discovery: "Go to therapy. Clean up all of the s--t," she told Glamour in 2012. "Clean up all of the toxins and the noise. Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self."
On Happiness: "You can undo a lot of things. If you're not happy, you can become happy. Happiness is a choice," she also told the magazine. "That's the thing I really feel."
On True Beauty: "[Beauty is] inner confidence. Peace. Kindness. Honesty. A life well-lived. Taking on challenges and not feeling shame for things that haven't gone the way you felt they should have," she told People in April 2016 "And not feeling like a failure or allowing people to critique your life and make you feel like you've failed at something. That's just toxic noise."
On Accepting Yourself Every Day: "When I was younger, I think I took a lot for granted and would beat myself up over things that were unnecessary," she told HuffPo in 2015. "Now it's like, whatever state I'm in, whatever shape my body's in [works for me]. I think you just have to really appreciate that this is what's beautiful, this is you!"
On Getting Older: "Being this side of 40 feels like what I should have felt being this side of 25: in my body, in my heart, happy with my life, and OK with whatever bumps in the road present themselves," she explained to Glamour in 2011.
On Self-Reflection: In an interview in 2014, Aniston said, "I think it's always important to reflect anyway, no matter what age you're approaching or what milestone is in front of you. Reflection should be almost a daily thing if possible. Because I was never a 'where do you see yourself in five years' person. I had no idea, and I didn't have a checklist, which really creates a lot less stress in your life."
On Creating Your Own Story: "This whole 'poor lonely Jen' thing, this idea that I'm so unlucky in love? I actually feel I've been unbelievably lucky in love," she admitted to Vogue in 2008. "Just because at this stage my life doesn't have the traditional framework to it — the husband and the two kids and the house in Connecticut—it's mine. It's my experience. And if you don't like the way it looks, then stop looking at it! Because I feel good. I don't feel like I'm supposed to be any further along or somewhere that I'm not. I'm right where I'm supposed to be."
On the "Fairy Tale" Myth: "Whoever said everything has to be forever, that's setting your hopes too high," she added in the same interview. "It's too much pressure. And I think if you put that pressure on yourself — because I did! 'Fairy tale! It has to be the right one!' — that's unattainable."
On Controlling Love: "I never liked Sex and the City, the kind of thing where women only feel empowered once they find The Man. It is just not up my alley," she also told Vogue. "I don't believe in it. There is nothing you can control about love."
On Taking Responsibility in a Relationship: "Relationships are two people; everyone is accountable,
she shared with Vanity Fair in 2005. "A lot goes into a relationship coming together, and a lot goes into a relationship falling apart. [My therapist would] say, 'Even if it's 98-percent the other person's fault, it's 2 percent yours, and that's what we're going to focus on.' You can only clean up your side of the street."
On Lasting Relationships: "Most of us fall in love with someone's persona and spend the next three to five years discovering who that person really is," she told Elle magazine in 2009. "If you can stay connected through that process of raw vulnerability, I think you have a shot at the prize of knowing and accepting another human being for who and what they really are after years of highs and lows."
On Marriage: Despite going through a rough time after her split from Brad Pitt, she still had a positive view on marriage. "What's fantastic about marriage is getting through those ebbs and flows with the same person and looking across the room and saying, 'I'm still here. And I still love you.' You remeet, reconnect," she revealed to Vanity Fair in 2005. You have marriages within marriages within marriages. That's what I love about marriage. That's what I want in marriage."