Jennifer Aniston and Jim Curtis took a very public step in their relationship on Wednesday, sitting down together for a conversation at 92NY.
The event was held in celebration of Curtis’ new book The Book of Possibility, and saw Aniston interview the transformational coach and wellness expert — who she’s been dating for over a year — on stage.
“This is very, very exciting. It is quite an honor to be here, especially with you, Jim Curtis,” Aniston told the crowd, before launching into a story about how she grew up going to gym class and playing dodgeball in the 92NY building. “It’s quite a full circle moment to be back here with you, speaking of dodging balls,” she teased, wondering, “Have I completely embarrassed you?”
“Not yet. We’re still on track here. First question please,” Curtis joked back. She began by asking him about his journey to wellness and self-help, after growing up in Boston (where “we didn’t suffer woo-woo,” Curtis said) and having a finance career on Wall Street. Eventually, he hit an “ultimate low” with his health and relationships, and wound up in the hospital with a scary diagnosis.
“I just said, ‘You know what? I’ve reached rock bottom and it’s time to change,’” Curtis told the crowd as he got emotional. Aniston responded, “You reached this point where you’re met with two roads, and you definitely took the road less traveled in your case.”
Curtis has walked with a limp since he was young due to lesions on his spinal cord, and admitted that when people would ask why, he’d say he got into a motorcycle accident.
“I was so shameful that I had a medical condition, that I was broken in some way, that I thought that a motorcycle accident was at least a little macho, right? It’s like this identity of the macho strong man,” he said. “It didn’t come with the connotation and shame of ‘this could get worse’ and ‘should we hire you?’ and that’s what was thinking in my head.” Curtis added, “I overcame that with self-acceptance and self-love and it was a long journey in which I realized I could have done it quicker, and that’s what this book is about.”
The couple also drew some comparisons between their professions, as Aniston mused that “if you’re a director and you have an actor, depending on who your actor is — some actors, they’re just like, ‘I want to bleed this character from my veins, so please talk to me.’ And then there’s others that are like, ‘Just give me a line reading. I want to be a Nobu by eight.’” Curtis coaches a wide-range of clients, many that are quite successful, and had to learn how to speak to each person differently.
“People think like I’m ‘look into my eyes’ type of thing,” Curtis joked, referencing his work as a hypnotherapist. “Really what our conversations as a coach is is asking the right questions so people can understand themselves more… I’m lucky enough to have worked in finance. I’m lucky enough to have worked in media and the entrepreneurial companies, and so I can speak that language to that person in a way that isn’t like ‘believe in the source of love that you are, straight from the heavens.’ That doesn’t fly.”
Before jumping to some audience submissions, Curtis told Aniston, “Those were fantastic questions, by the way — and I know that we kind of went over those questions,” as she jumped in, “I didn’t ask you one question that was prepared. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Their banter continued as the transformational coach joked that the hardest part of working on the book was choosing the cover: “Is that a good enough picture of me? How does my hair — you know. How many times did I ask you, ‘Is this a good picture of me to put on this cover?’”
“A lot,” Aniston responded, teasing him with the next question, “What did you learn about yourself while writing the book? You got a good picture.” At the end, Curtis threw a few questions to Aniston, with her admitting she had to “overcome a very deep, deep fear of public speaking” to do the event with him.
After a 30-minute chat, Aniston exited the stage and Curtis led the crowd in a guided meditation — but first, he had to get a feel for the audience. “How many people here meditate on a regular basis? And be honest, how many people here just came here to see Jennifer Aniston interview me?” he laughed. “How many people here, despite that, are willing to try some meditation? How many people here are worried I’m going to try to hypnotize you and you’ll act like a chicken?”
The Book of Possibility hits shelves on Tuesday.
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