My parents’ divorce left me with a lot of sadness and pain and acting, and especially humour, was my way of dealing with all that.

In this reflection, Aniston frames performance—particularly comedy—not merely as a career choice but as a coping strategy. The quote links childhood upheaval (her parents’ divorce) to an emotional residue (“sadness and pain”) and suggests that acting offered a structured way to process, transform, or temporarily escape that distress. By singling out humour, she points to comedy’s dual function: it can deflect vulnerability while also making it shareable and survivable. The statement also implies a common dynamic in comic artistry, where personal wounds are transmuted into timing, character, and levity, turning private experience into a public, connective form.