Entertainment Drive Jennifer Aniston Q&A

eDrive: How has Friends changed your life?
Jennifer Aniston: Well, I have more of an income. And it's helped me grow as an actress. Unfortunately, I don't get to see my family and friends as much because I'm so busy. That's a bad thing.

eDrive: Is everybody really out to get the cast of Friends?
Aniston: Well, sometimes it seems that people can't wait to watch us fail. It's strange, because you're doing the same thing on the second season of the show than you did on the first season -- you're just trying to do the job. I've seen what they've done to the others, and for whatever reasons, The Pallbearer [with David Schwimmer], Ed [with Matt LeBlanc], and Fools Rush In [with Matthew Perry] didn't do that well. But it wasn't so much that, it was more that people seemed happy about it. So this is a particularly scary time for me. Well, maybe not 'scary'; let's just say anxious.

eDrive: What about the whole fame thing? Are there pros and cons?
Aniston: Oh, definitely. What's good about being famous is being able to get a chance to do a project you love and think you're right for. Like Picture Perfect, and working with Glenn and Kevin and Olympia Dukakis [who plays Jennifer's mom in the movie]. But if I wasn't famous, I wouldn't have gotten the opportunity. The down side is that your followed, video cameras are stuck in your face. It's the whole loss of your anonymity. You never think about it until it happens, but it's a shock. Nothing you do is private.

eDrive: Along those same lines, what goes through your head when you see people trying to copy your hairstyle and stuff like that?
Aniston: The hair thing is pretty ironic, because I've always hated my hair. It's always been curly and I've wanted it to be straight all my life. People like my hair so much? Take it!

eDrive: Any particularly unusual fan encounters?
Aniston: You know, it never really becomes normal to have people you don't know come up to you and profess their love for you and your work. It's an amazing, really, when you think about it. But I could do without things like opening up a tabloid and seeing myself moving into my own house. It's like, How did they get that picture? Where were they? It's invasive -- and a little creepy.

eDrive: With your father an actor and the fact that your godfather was Telly Savalas, did you know you always wanted to act?
Aniston: I knew I wanted to act pretty early on, although, if anything, my father tried to influence me the other way. He didn't think much of the business, especially for his daughter. He knew it could be cruel. And Telly, though as a small child he was around, later, and after we moved to Greece [Jennifer's real last name is Anistonapoulos], we kind of lost touch. But he'd send me lollipops and bicycles and stuff like that. Only after I came back from Greece and got older did I realize the big star he was. It was hard to get through all the people to get to him.

eDrive: Last but certainly not least, we've heard you once had a really nasty Scott Baio crush.
Aniston: Oh my god! I did! It was terrible. I had just turned 13 when Joanie Loves Chachi came out, and I had loved him from Happy Days. But my father ruined my fantasy of becoming Mrs. Baio. He said, "You are not marrying Scott Baio!" Poor dad, he took it so seriously. I was also a big Duran Duran fan. I loved Simon. I just screamed at him when I went to their concerts. That's what 12- and 13-year-old girls do! Or, at least that's what they used to do. Who knows what they do now.