Hearts broke all around the world when Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux announced they are separating after two years of marriage.
Credit: Getty / Dimitrios Kambouris
While the couple said their decision to split "was mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year" in a joint statement, it seems like long distance and their different lifestyles could have also played a factor.
According to ET, the pair had a hard time agreeing on where to live. While Jennifer prefers the West Coast, Justin's roots have always been in NYC. "He much prefers being [in New York] and that's been a major issue for them for a long time," a source told the publication. "Justin has a very diverse friend group, and he likes that they're not all in the industry. He's friends with people in the restaurant world, writers, comedians, artists, tattoo artists. It's an eclectic group and he doesn't have that type of network in LA."
While Justin tried to help Jen adjust to the NYC lifestyle by moving out of his Greenwich Village apartment and living in the West Village together, the source adds that the limited amount of privacy in the city eventually became too much for the former Friends actress. "Justin can hop on his [motorcycle], walk in the neighbourhood, hang at a bar and all that without being bothered, but for Jen, the paparazzi are all over her," the source added. "She just never really could get settled in, she wasn't happy [in New York]." Even though the two eventually agreed to move to LA, Justin would constantly travel back and forth. "He was bicoastal, she was not," the source said.
Despite their disagreement on where to live, their different lifestyles could have also played a part in their breakup. "Jennifer and Justin fell in love hard and fast and yet they were never really suited to one another," a source told E! News. "He was a New York hipster that loved the alternative lifestyle and Jennifer was living a much more reclusive life when they first started to fall in love. The initial chemistry between them made it easy for them to ignore their differences and incompatibility."
After the couple started dating in 2011, it took a while for Justin to get used to all the extra attention that surrounded Jennifer. "He absolutely hated it at first," the source explained. "But he fell in love with Jennifer so it was something he came to accept. But everyone around him knew it wasn't really who he was. They have always just been two very different people with very different characters who just happened to fall in love. He's more nomadic, more of a free spirit, he's rugged and urban and Jennifer just isn't that kind of person."
Even though they had their differences, the ET source added there was no one incident that made them split, they simply drifted apart. "They really were a great couple," the source said. "And they cared a lot about each other. Justin was always really protective of her. They both wanted this to work."
By Kelsie Gibson
This article first appeared in Pop Sugar.