Jennifer Aniston Watch

First Vogue, then the Times . . . and this week, Jen is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly! On the cover and in the photographs, Jen poses with an adorable puppy - and she looks great as well! The interview covers a variety of topics - and Jen is, as always, lovely and engaging.

By now, many of us know not to believe the rumors, and indeed, Jen discusses just how out of hand many of them get - specifically, she laments the effect of the rumors on the eventual moment when one of them becomes true:

”Oh, my God, it’s hysterical!” she says, throwing up her hands. ”You can’t do anything without it going to some extreme. It’s almost going to take away the fun from actually being able to say one day, ‘I’m pregnant!’ Everyone will be like, ‘Yeah, right.’ It’s the boy who cried wolf. Stop stealing my thunder, motherf—ers!”

Despite the tabloid drama surrounding her own motherhood prospects, Jen did enjoy the opportunity to play a mother in Marley & Me - despite some early jitters about the role:

”Jen had some anxieties about preparing,” says director David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada). ”You have crying babies, the kinks and stresses of being a young, exhausted mom — a lot of stuff she hadn’t been through personally or acted before.” In the end, Aniston embraced the challenge: ”I feel like that’s in my future and I’m on the verge of it in some way — or it’s something I long for. So it was great to sort of dip your toe in it.”

Indeed, Jen seems eager to challenge herself on all fronts - she may be best known for girl-next-door roles, but she expresses the desire to take on challenges much like her offbeat, well-received roles in The Good Girl and Friends With Money:

‘The girl trying to get the guy — those movies just don’t interest me these days,” Aniston says. ”I’d be so bored just doing that. I always think of it as you’re walking down the aisle of the supermarket and there’s the Fruity Pebbles. I like to do a little Kashi as well, a little granola.”

For her part, she’s making it happen on the development end, with Echo Films producing projects such as Counter Clockwise and Goree Girls. However, she also has an eye behind the camera - with her work on Room 10 under her belt, she is now looking to take on the challenge of directing a feature film:

But of course, what she would really like to do is direct. She already has a particular project in mind: ”It’s about schizophrenia, a woman who overcame the odds against her — that’s all I’m going to say.”

No matter what becomes of these projects, Jen is hopeful about the future, whatever it brings:

She’ll tell you that, as she approaches 40, she’s never been happier, never felt better: ”I don’t know if I’m just a late bloomer, but I feel like everything is just beginning.”

The full interview is at Entertainment Weekly’s website, along with other pictures from the photoshoot; additionally, Jen shares her favorite tearjerkers!