The Human Design of Jennifer Aniston: Traversing Anger, Finding Her Powerful Voice and Trusting Her Intuition

This one comes by request from a gorgeous human who asked if I could do a celebrity Human Design of a Manifestor. After looking up some famous ones, we agreed on Jennifer Aniston. 

Who doesn’t love her?! Rachel from Friends, the woman with eternally incredible hair (that also led to the ‘Rachel’ hairstyle – and which apparently she thought was the ugliest cut ever!); the owner of Lola Vie – a hair care line, producer, director and so much more. 

Let’s start at the beginning- Human Design is a tool that you can use to plug in your birth data and find out the most intricate, detailed, accurate and practical information about yourself, without ever having to complete a questionnaire. It’s based on ancient systems plus quantum physics and genetics. 

There are 5 different Types of Human Design and one of these is a Manifestor. This Type make up only 9% of the population, and these people are the innovators, disruptors and very cool initiators of new and different things. 

Manifestors have energy that comes in creative bursts and I’m sure Jen uses this for her characterisations when in a movie or TV series role. After doing 10 years in Friends, she was tired of only getting rom-com roles, that weren’t landing very well at the box office, and was craving juicier parts.

She mentions that she started thinking: “Maybe there’s a reason that no one [is giving me these opportunities]?” Now, so much is self-generated, which is great since I wasn’t going to get the jobs I’m really interested in because the industry isn’t secure enough to say, “Yeah, let’s try it.” 

In the acting world, Jen has said that her role models are Mary Tyler-Moore and Diane Keaton. This is interesting because Mary was a 5/1 Manifestor (the same as Jen- more on this below) and Diane who is a 4/6 Projector (another Type that has energy that ebbs and flows).

She’s talked about the importance of her routines, including an evening routine that helps her to sleep well, as well as no longer doing 45-minute cardio sessions that essentially ‘broke my body’. Trying to be constantly ‘on’ and high energy isn’t a great fit for a Manifestor. Now, she rests if her body is tired and only works out (much more gently) when she’s got the energy for it. Which is still 5 days per week and she still looks amazing!

The green light that a Manifestor is on the right track is Peace. After traversing a challenging upbringing, being unable to have a baby and 2 divorces, she seems to have found peace and happiness in her work, her close network and her home. As one interviewer in Allure described the cottage at the back of her home, “The view, the furniture, the palpable calm — you could write the story of your life in a room like this”.

The red light that Manifestors may have veered from their most aligned course is Anger. There are many references to Jen working through being able to express her anger, and so many people with this Type make themselves wrong for feeling anger and repress it. 

In a 2015 interview, Aniston says she’s only now learning to deal with anger — discovering how to express it, rather than keeping it bottled up. “I always thought, if you’re angry you just don’t say anything,” she says. ‘She has come to terms with a complicated relationship with her mother, has learned to moderate her urge to be always in control and has overcome issues about anger, specifically her longtime history of being “passive-aggressive.”’

She spoke about her mother:

“She had a temper. I can’t tolerate that. If I get upset, I will discuss [things]. I will never scream and get hysterical like that. [But] I was never taught that I could scream. One time, I raised my voice to my mother, and I screamed at her, and she looked at me and burst out laughing. She was laughing at me [for] screaming back. And it was like a punch in my stomach.” 

These kinds of reactions to expressing a natural emotion are what can lead to a Manifestor pushing down the anger, or it showing up in passive-aggressive ways.

She told Hollywood Reporter that ‘Working with a therapist helped her to be able to express this: “Her whole thing with me was really saying, ‘You have to stand up for yourself in life.’ She was really trying to help me deal with anger and learning how to express it without feeling terrified that I was going to get murdered in response.” 

Manifestors often have a protective aura that not everyone will resonate with. The journalist from the above interview described her like this:

‘It occurs to me that Aniston resembles this house, so protected on the outside, but with great vistas spreading out once one gets within’.

Manifestors have a Strategy of Initiate and Inform, which is about taking action when a creative urge hits, and then letting people know what they’re working on. Finding a way to create her own roles now is more aligned with her Strategy:

“Maybe I can’t? Maybe there’s a reason that no one [is giving me these opportunities]?” Now, so much is self-generated, which is great since I wasn’t going to get the jobs I’m really interested in because the industry isn’t secure enough to say, “Yeah, let’s try it.” 

Returning to a television series for the first time since Friends to star in and produce Morning Wars from 2019 seems like a real connection to her more powerful energy. 

“This role never could’ve come to me any sooner than now,” Aniston tells EW. “It’s one of the hardest jobs I’ve had. I knew I was up to the task, but then there was the excavation of all the emotions in order to create this world for this woman. 

Morning Show director Mimi Leder says. “No one has ever seen Jen Aniston jump into the deep end like this. She’s totally a woman on the verge.”

Jennifer has a 5/1 profile- with a 5 line she’s a natural leader and problem solver, here to have a big impact in the world (in addition to the big impact of being a Manifestor!) Being an actress, producer, business owner (for LolaVie hair care) and so much more. It’s common for those with a 5 line to experience the projections of others, and Jen agrees: ‘People certainly project onto you and all that, but my job is to go, “Listen, I’ll show you what I’m capable of, and you decide if you want to subscribe.” 

And ‘I have to bite my tongue sometimes if I’m on a movie, when I think I can figure out how to make this problem that they’re having go smoothly. I just bite my tongue, especially with a [bad] director’.

With a 1 line, she’s a natural authority on things she’s passionate about, which include her characterisations of her roles, and interior decorating.

She has said that if she weren’t an actor she’d be an interior designer: “I love putting homes together and creating spaces. I can walk into a house and see what it needs. And it’s a fun process. Some people dread it. It can break up relationships. I thrive during that process.” This also connects with her 1/8 channels of Creativity.

The research and dedication to product development in her hair care range is a great example of that 1-line in action too. The LolaVie About page states this about her:

Jennifer Aniston is also obsessed with medical journals, technological advances and the latest beauty and health innovations — something most people don’t know about her. Her vision for LolaVie is to combine the best of science and nature. With this brand, she wants to prove that you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. 

From overseeing product development to marketing to creative direction, Jen has been the driving force behind the brand. She has spent countless hours making sure formulations live up to her standards.

LolaVie creates products that are effective, smart, and unfussy – ones that solve real problems without the fluff. 

That last part is a nod to her 5 line- solving unique problems like only needing one product (the glossy untangler, if you’re wondering!) instead of five.

She has an independent definition, meaning she can get so much done when she gets in her flow. A while ago I saw an interview with Lisa Kudrow sharing that in Friends, Jen would just get her lines immediately while Courteney Cox had cheat cards planted everywhere around the set.

Jen broke Instagram when she became the fastest person to gain 1M followers when she was set to launch her hair care range, LolaVie.

With the 10-57 channel of Beauty she’s ‘also tried to master her need for order. “I’m a control freak,” she admits. “I like to be in charge of everything. My life was so out of control growing up, it’s very important today for it to be in control.” Using this channel to create beauty in the world around her like through her knack for decorating and her hair care products, is such an aligned use of this talent. This article described her home: ‘She welcomes me into the house, which looks like a comfortable art gallery and smells like a box of new shoes transported in a Louis Vuitton steamer trunk full of gardenias’. Umm, wow!

Her authority is Splenic. This means she makes her best decisions when she allows herself time to get still and quiet enough to notice her intuitive knowing. This is a decision-making style that is spontaneous, rather than an emotional authority where you allow yourself time to make a decision. A lot of people explain their intuition by referring to their gut, and Jen does that below. She also has a defined Ego centre, which is all about what your heart is in, plus what you have the willpower and motivation for, and I love these quotes:

“I’ve never been strategic. I don’t have an agenda. I just go with my gut.” And this: “I have to get that super-excited feeling (about taking on a new role), and I really promised myself that, unless I feel with all my heart, ‘Oh, I have to do this,’ then I just can’t. There’s too much to be home for.”

With the 25-51 channel of Competitiveness, she has experienced intense periods, like the endless media speculation about her being pregnant which led to her famous op-ed piece in the Huffpost; navigating a difficult relationship with her mother and 2 divorces with a large amount of scrutiny.

Of course, there’s so much more, but I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into her Human Design.

To learn about all the juicy goodness in your unique Human Design, and how it applies to business, work, and life overall book a 1:1 session here.