Jennifer Aniston Reveals She Almost Didn't Get into Famous LaGuardia High School: 'I Was Such a Bad Student' Liza Esquibias, Stephanie WengerOctober 14, 2025 at 10:56 PM 7 Jamie McCarthy/Getty Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Aniston opened up about being "a bad student" in a new episode of Dax Shepard's A...
- - Jennifer Aniston Reveals She Almost Didn't Get into Famous LaGuardia High School: 'I Was Such a Bad Student'
Liza Esquibias, Stephanie WengerOctober 14, 2025 at 10:56 PM
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Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Jennifer Aniston -
Jennifer Aniston opened up about being "a bad student" in a new episode of Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast
She shared that despite being "street smart," she struggled academically growing up, which almost impacted her acceptance into the famous LaGuardia High School in New York City
Aniston also talked about how her diagnosis with dyslexia contributed to those challenges
Jennifer Aniston is a star, but even she struggled in the classroom.
During her appearance on an early access episode of Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast on Monday, Oct. 13, the Friends alum, 56, reflected on her time at the prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts as a teen. Well-known for inspiring the iconic 1980s film — and later TV series — Fame, the New York City school is a prestigious one, and Aniston almost wasn't accepted.
"I was a very last-minute 'get into that school,' " she admitted. "I was such a bad student. I'm gonna say things that are gonna embarrass me forever. I was a terrible student."
"It was late auditions, I don't know why, I can't honestly remember," she later explained. "I learned two monologues, I auditioned and then I came back and then next thing you know, I was accepted."
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Jennifer Aniston (left) and Dax Shepard
In the podcast, Aniston noted that she has dyslexia, as does Shepard, 50, but he pointed out that the diagnosis affected them very differently.
"You don't have the same chip on your shoulder I do," Shepard said. "I am a know-it-all, everyone thinks I'm dumb, I've gotta prove I'm smart all the time. It's exhausting."
"Oh yeah, I don't have that," Aniston quipped. "I kind of just, I know what I know and I know what I don't know. There was a period though where I was mortified to walk in a room or be at a party. I would just think, 'I don't know how to carry on a conversation.' "
Eventually, the actress said that she learned "the best thing to do is just ask questions," and she was able to navigate the social aspect of high school.
"I can say, I'm expert street smart, my EQ versus my IQ," she continued. "So, we're doing pretty good."
When it came to being a student, however, Aniston never grew into the traditional schooling environment. When she was younger, she revealed she was constantly sent to stand in the hallway because she was distracting other kids in class.
"I was doodling, I was writing little scenes, sketches we were gonna act out at recess, or I'd write a note to somebody," she shared. "Then I'd get real good laughs, and I'd be like, 'Awesome!' "
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Jennifer Aniston
By the time she attended LaGuardia High School — which has an abundance of notable alumni, including Al Pacino, Pedro Pascal, Sarah Paulson and Timothée Chalamet — in the mid '80s, Aniston confessed it had lost "part of its charm" that she'd seen on the big screen. The location had just moved and she remembered there being "thousands of kids" attending.
Still, she said she felt more "appreciated" there with the exception of "one of our acting teachers who said I was a disgrace to the theater."
"I probably was," she joked.
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While she knew she wanted to be an actor — "because that's all I thought I could do" — Aniston still struggled to get through the academic aspect of high school.
"This could sound awful, but between grade nine and 10, we were given four books to read, and I was like, 'I'm never gonna read these books, I've gotta go to another school,' " she recalled. "I was like, 'Alright, so where are we going? Because that's not gonna happen. I don't have any way to figure out a way around that. Can't go stand in the hallway around that.' "
She added: "That's part of my dyslexia too is [I would] be reading and I'd go, 'Oh, I just read a whole page and I don't know what I read because I'm not comprehending anything.' And then my mind would wander."
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