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Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston has stayed away from social media because she doesn't want to "ask for or seek out judgment."

Unlike the vast majority of celebrities, the Friends star has chosen not to set up accounts on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, believing that it's important she keeps her private life behind closed doors as much as she possibly can.

"I sound like a broken record, but it's hard enough to just get out there as a kid, let alone ask for or seek out judgment," she explained to Elle U.S. "The one thing I have is maintaining this little circle of sanctity that's my own. If I'm sitting here posting something about my dogs or I'm Boomeranging my coffee mug in the morning, that's just giving away one more piece of something that is mine."

One reason for her protective nature over her private life is the tabloid scrutiny she faced as Friends was coming to an end, which is when "the internet was really taking off." This intensified when she and her ex-husband Brad Pitt announced their separation in 2005, with articles allegedly painting her "in a light that wasn't true to who I was," and she believes this is the reason she started to branch out and take on characters she could immerse herself in.

"Because I didn't want to just be that person in the tabloids. I also had to prove it to myself. I'm not just that, right?" the 49-year-old insisted. "Look, we're all human at the end of the day. I'm really still working on it. That's just my own PTSD of being...how do I say this...it's getting easy to manoeuvre around the city. It's a matter of choosing when I feel like I'm OK with having a bunch of people take a bunch of pictures of me."