Jennifer Aniston Jokes About Brad Pitt Divorce on Final ‘Ellen’ Episode

Jennifer Aniston was Ellen DeGeneres’ last guest on the final episode of her daytime talk show, and the Friends alum cracked a rare joke about her divorce from Brad Pitt. Aniston was the first guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show back in 2003, and after sitting down for the final episode she said, “Oh, where does 19 years go? I don’t understand.”

Being one who is well-acquainted with moving on after spending years on a TV series, Aniston joked about hat she did when Friends ended in 2004. “Well, I got a divorce and went into therapy,” she quipped. “Oh! And then I did a movie called The Break-Up. I just kinda leaned into the end. I just was like, ‘You know what, guys? Let’s make this a completely new chapter. Let’s just end everything and start new.’ It worked great.” Notably, Aniston was one of DeGeneres’ most frequent guests, appearing nearly two dozen times in the talk show over its almost 20-year run.

View on X

In a previous conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, DeGeneres shared some behind-the-scenes details regarding need for her to move on from the talk show. “When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged,” she said, “and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore.” Notably, she also claimed that she wanted to end the show with Season 19, but was persuaded to keep going.

“They wanted to sign for four more years and I said I’d sign maybe for one,” she said, not identifying who the “they” are. Subsequently, that one season turned into “three more” and she “knew that would be my last. That’s been the plan all along.” DeGeneres added, “Everybody kept saying, even when I signed, ‘You know, that’s going to be 19, don’t you want to just go to 20? It’s a good number.’ So is 19.”

The end of DeGeneres’ show comes after widespread allegations of a toxic working environment being cultivated behind the scenes. Some of the allegations have been against DeGeneres herself, with staffers stating that she does not have the same friendly personality off-screen. Other accusations have been related to sexual misconduct among producers.

In a public statement last September, DeGeneres addressed the allegations, saying, “I learned that things happen here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously. And I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected.”