Opening up about her strained relationship with her late mother Nancy Dow, the 'Friends' alum says she can relate to the the mother-daughter story in her new movie 'Dumplin' '.

• Dec 3, 2018

AceShowbiz - Jennifer Aniston just wanted her mother to love her for who she is. The actress famous for her portrayal of Rachel Green on "Friends" opened up about the strained relationship she shared with her late mother, Nancy Dow, when talking about her upcoming Netflix movie, "Dumplin' ".

"She was a model and she was all about presentation and what she looked like and what I looked like," the 49-year-old told The Sunday Telegraph. "I did not come out the model child she'd hoped for and it was something that really resonated with me, this little girl just wanting to be seen and wanting to be loved by a mum who was too occupied with things that didn't quite matter."

In the interview, the former wife of Justin Theroux also admitted that her own relationship with Nancy made her cherish what her character shared with Danielle Macdonald's in the musical comedy. "One of the reasons I really loved the mother-daughter aspect of it was because it was very similar in a way to what my mother, and our relationship, was," she explained.

Jennifer never hid the fact that she shared a complicated relationship with her mother. In 2015, she told The Hollywood Reporter that her mother "was critical." She went on to explain, "She was very critical of me. Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn't. I never was. I honestly still don't think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty."

A little more that a year later, Nancy passed away at the age of 79. At the time, the "Horrible Bosses" star issued a statement that read, "She was 79 years old and passed peacefully surrounded by family and friends after enduring a long illness. We ask that our family s privacy be respected as we grieve our loss."

"Dumplin' " itself is based on Julie Murphy's 2015 young adult novel. It revolves around a plus-size teenager named Willowdean who aspires to break the standard of beauty. Aside from Jennifer and Danielle, it also stars Luke Benward, Odeya Rush and Dove Cameron. Directed by Anne Fletcher, it will be made available for streaming on Netflix on December 7.

During her interview with the publication, Jennifer stressed on the film's positive message. "This movie is so special because it is about stripping away those preconceived notions of beauty," she pointed out, "trying to become individuals and not feeling that we have to live up to some unrealistic ideal that society is feeding up to us."