Why Jennifer Aniston doesn’t attend the Met Gala – NBC New York

Originally appeared on E! Online.

Jennifer Aniston isn’t interested in being there for the Met Gala.

Despite previously earning a coveted invite to the annual event, the “Friends” alum revealed why she’s chosen not to attend the biggest night in fashion.

“It overwhelms me,” Aniston admitted to Glamour in an interview published Sept. 2. “It’s the getting ready, the putting on the dress. I’m a ‘jeans and flip-flops and tank top’ kind of girl.”

“I love dressing up too, but for me it’s a mental game of… ‘Let’s get dressed up, put on a fancy dress, makeup, get your hair all ‘purdy’ and go sit in a big room with your peers,'” the Morning Show actress explained. “Everyone’s there to celebrate each other and have some fun, but I get nervous.”

That stress transcends just attending events. She added, “I even get a little anxious about public speaking, especially over the years of having your words twisted and taken out of context.”

Now, Aniston said that she finds herself “hall-monitoring” her behavior in public.

READ: Jennifer Aniston, Tom Holland and more celebs who’ve never been to the Met Gala

But the 56-year-old isn’t the only celeb who doesn’t dream about those iconic red steps. Zendaya may have become one of the most anticipated celebrities to attend the gala, but her fiancé Tom Holland prefers to let her shine. As he told Men’s Health in January, “It’s not my moment, it’s her moment, and if we go together, it’s about us.”

Meanwhile, the story of Zayn Malik‘s life doesn’t include any more snapshots at the event, which he attended once in 2016 with then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid.

“It’s not something I would go to,” he told GQ in 2018. “I’d rather be sitting at my house, doing something productive, than dressing up in really expensive clothes and being photographed on a red carpet.”

As the One Direction alum put it, “To do the self-indulgent ‘Look at me, I’m amazing’ thing on the red carpet, it’s not me.”

Jennifer Garner, too, has admitted she doesn’t quite feel at home on the steps of the Met.

“I went to the Met ball exactly one time,” she told Vogue in 2023. “I found it a little scary, so I haven’t been back.”

However, she looks back at the 2007 event with fondness, emphasizing that it was “really majestic and special.”

PHOTOS: Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston is reflecting on one of her most difficult chapters. The A-lister shared in a wide-ranging cover interview for Vanity Fair published on Aug. 11 how she looks back on the tabloid frenzy surrounding Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s relationship in the wake of her 2005 split from the actor.