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Then and now: Jen with her dad in 1975, and in 2006

Jen is famously close with her dad, Days of Our Lives star John Aniston. Born Ioannis Anastassakis in Greece, he arrived in the States as a boy, and he eventually pursued an acting career after studying theater at Pennsylvania State University and serving in the military. He married Nancy Dow, and as we know, they welcomed a baby girl in 1969. The family (John, Nancy, Jennifer, and Nancy’s son Johnny) moved to Greece in the mid-’70’s, as John had grown frustrated with acting and decided to attend medical school. However, he was eventually tapped for a role on the series Love of Live, and the family returned to the U.S.

In 1978, John and Nancy divorced, and Jen didn’t see much of her dad in the years that followed. As Jen told Esquire in 2002:

As the years passed, tension came between my mom and dad, and I’d do funny things to try to bring back the laughter. It’s hard to recall now what those things were. Maybe I’ve blocked them out. I guess I’ve learned to make a living doing what I did to try to heal myself as a kid.

When I was about nine, I came home from a friend’s party and my dad wasn’t there. Divorce happens in a lot of families, and I don’t want to break out the violins. But that was that.

I was enrolled at the Rudolf Steiner School, which recommends that children don’t watch TV. I’d sneak it all the time, of course. You become obsessed with anything your parents tell you not to do. Plus,Dad had left. How could I connect with him? He was on the television!

When Jen found her own passion for acting, John discouraged her at first, knowing that it isn’t always an easy profession to make a living at. However, she persevered, and John became one of her biggest supporters. John eventually remarried; he and his wife Sherry have a son named Alexander (more on remarriage and fatherhood at All About Fatherhood). In adulthood, Jen has become very close to her dad; notably, at the time of his recent heart attack, Jen was a constant presence at his bedside. Thankfully, it seems that John has recovered nicely from the scare. Today, he plays Victor Kiriakis on DOOL, and it is evident that Jen is not the only bright talent in her family.

Jennifer Aniston, John Aniston, Days Of Our Lives, fatherhood