Jennifer Aniston discusses the strained relationship with her mother

'This little girl just wanting to be seen and wanting to be loved' 
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Edwina Langley3 December 2018

It's no secret that Jennifer Aniston had a difficult relationship with her late mother, model Nancy Dow.

Indeed, following the publication of Dow's autobiography From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir in 1999, the pair are believed to have not spoken to each other for ten years.

But in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the Friends star has revealed exactly what it was about their relationship that she found so difficult.

Speaking about her new film Dumplin', Aniston drew comparisons between the relationship of the plus-size teenager and her former beauty queen mother in the movie, with that of her and her own mother.

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"One of the reasons I really loved the mother-daughter aspect of [Dumplin'] was because it was very similar in a way to what my mother, and our relationship, was," she said.

"She was a model and she was all about presentation and what she looked like and what I looked like."

Jennifer Aniston - In pictures

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Aniston continued, "I did not come out the model child she'd hoped for and it was something that really resonated with me, this little girl just wanting to be seen and wanting to be loved by a mum who was too occupied with things that didn't quite matter."

Nancy Dow married Aniston's father, John Aniston, in 1965, and the couple gave birth to their daughter in 1969. However, 11 years on their marriage would break down and the couple divorced in 1980.

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By the time Aniston married her first husband, Brad Pitt, in 2000, her relationship with her mother had also come under pressure and Dow did not attend the nuptials - although the pair are believed to have reconciled before her death in 2016.

Commenting on her own beauty standards today, Aniston reflected: "My idea of beauty is, it's what makes you feel beautiful and what makes me feel beautiful are the people around me, the life that I have.

"And maybe a good hair day," she added.

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