Anna Good
On Variety’s Actors on Actors series this week, where two actors interview each other, actors Jennifer Aniston and Sebastian Stan talked about their experiences with TV, acting, and the idea of fame in 2022.
Aniston and Stan were talking about his role as musician Tommy Lee and the man’s leaked or stolen sex tape with Pamela Anderson, and that was when Aniston brought up that it was around that time period, in the late ’90s to early 2000s, that the idea of being famous for being famous (and not any actual skill like acting or singing) first started.
Aniston said that it began “right at the time when the internet really shaped a new culture about people becoming famous. This thing of people becoming famous for basically doing nothing. I mean — Paris Hilton, Monica Lewinsky, all those.”
Never mind the fact that Monica Lewinsky certainly didn’t want to become famous.
“I feel so lucky that we got a little taste of the industry before it became what it is today,” the Friends actor added. “More streaming services — you’re famous from TikTok, you’re famous from YouTube, you’re famous from Instagram.”
“It’s almost, like, it’s diluting the actor’s job,” she went on.