Jennifer Aniston has been in the spotlight for over two decades, but the woman sitting cross-legged in her serene Bel Air living room these days is far from the wide-eyed young actress who once captured hearts as Rachel Green. She is older, wiser, and more introspective, and she’s finally ready to talk about the hard stuff: grief, childhood wounds, personal growth, and, yes, even anger.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Aniston opened up in a way that few Hollywood A-listers ever do. The conversation, raw and revealing, paints the portrait of a woman who has spent years doing the work, not on set, but on herself.

“I know I have a bigger purpose,” Aniston said softly, as sunlight streamed through the windows of her minimalist home. “And it’s not about awards or proving myself anymore.”

That statement carries extra weight considering the context. Just days before the Oscar nominations were released, buzz around her performance in Cake had reached a fever pitch. Her stripped-down portrayal of a woman battling physical and emotional trauma had stunned critics and audiences alike. She had received nominations from SAG, the Golden Globes, and the Critics’ Choice Awards. Oscar seemed like the next obvious step.

But then — silence.

On the morning of January 15, when the Oscar nominations were announced, Aniston’s name was nowhere to be found. The internet exploded with outrage. Headlines declared she had been “robbed.” Twitter lit up with fans expressing disbelief. And yet, the woman at the center of it all met the snub not with fury or despair, but with remarkable calm.

“I’m the number-one snubbed,” she later joked on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, flashing the same bright smile that’s charmed audiences for decades.

But behind that smile is a woman who has spent years learning how to feel her feelings, especially the ones she was once told not to express. Like anger.

“I used to think that if you’re angry, you just don’t say anything,” Aniston admitted. “But that’s not healthy. You don’t have to bottle it up or explode. There’s something in between, and I’m learning how to live there.”

That lesson didn’t come easily. For most of her life, Aniston admits, she simply coped. She coped with being the constant subject of tabloid speculation, with a high-profile divorce, and with being endlessly asked about children and relationships. She coped with being seen as a “girl next door” long after she had outgrown the label.

But true healing began, she says, when she started digging into her past, especially her complicated relationship with her mother, Nancy Dow. “She was very critical. She had a temper. I can’t tolerate that,” Aniston said, her voice dipping into a rare moment of vulnerability.

The mother-daughter rift was well-known, but what wasn’t known was just how much therapy helped Aniston make peace with it. For years, she worked with a Jungian analyst to confront the deep emotional wounds of her childhood. That therapist became a guiding force until his death, which left her feeling “shattered.”

“I’ve cried deeply,” she shared. “I’ve experienced immense loss. And I think anybody who has gone through that knows what it does to you. It breaks you open. But it also gives you perspective.”

It also gave her answers. In her early twenties, Aniston was diagnosed with dyslexia, a revelation that explained so much of her academic struggles and feelings of inadequacy.

“I thought I wasn’t smart,” she said. “I couldn’t retain anything. I just assumed I wasn’t good at school. But when I found out about the dyslexia, it was like the clouds lifted. Everything made sense.”

It was another turning point. With that knowledge, and with years of therapy under her belt, Aniston began to rebuild herself from the inside out. These days, she leans into daily meditation and mindfulness. She surrounds herself with close friends and laughter. And yes, she and fiancé Justin Theroux even unwind with guilty pleasures like The Bachelor.

“I know it’s junk food,” she laughed. “But sometimes, you need that escape.”

Aniston doesn’t claim to have all the answers. She doesn’t know when she’ll get married or if she’ll have children. But what she does know is that she’s no longer chasing other people’s definitions of happiness or success.

“The world moves so fast now. You’re always rushing to the next thing. But I’ve learned to slow down, to listen, to actually feel what I’m feeling,” she said.

As for the Oscar that never came? She’s at peace with it.

“It would’ve been lovely,” she admitted. “But honestly, I’m okay. I know who I am. I know what matters to me.”

And that, perhaps, is her most powerful role yet,  a woman who has stopped pretending, stopped performing, and finally started living.