Jennifer Aniston Not ‘Willing to Commit’ to Moving to NYC Full-Time for Boyfriend Jim Curtis

Jim Curtis recently shared his philosophy on how couples can survive the inevitable “flare-ups” that happen behind closed doors. “Repair is part of it all,” the hypnotherapist and self-described “coach and spiritual educator” explained on a February episode of NFL vet Cedric Thompson Jr.‘s Ced With Intention podcast, describing how partners must learn to “work on ourselves,” as well as communicate and compromise.

“I spend a lot of time with my girlfriend,” Jim went on. “Sometimes, we can have little things flare up.” After the tiffs, he noted, they could opt to be “silent, angry, could leave the house, think about it and meditate on how to change it,” he explained. “Or we can say, ‘Hey, this is what happened, I’m sorry,’ and do the repair.” The work, he stressed, needs to be done to ensure the problem doesn’t continue to arise. “Because once you make a repair and then it just happens five more times,” Jim explained, “no one trusts it.”

But as his whirlwind romance with Jennifer Aniston collides with the reality of building a life together, the challenges facing the pair have become more challenging than the occasional disagreement. Star has learned that Jen and Jim are grappling with difficult questions about where to live, how fast to move and whether their very different lifestyles can truly merge long term. Just months after buzz that the Friends star, 57, and the former Wall Street trader turned wellness guru, 50, were prepping a walk down the aisle, Star can reveal wedding plans are on hold. “Jen still sees Jim as the person she wants to grow old with, but right now there’s no room in her schedule for a wedding,” says a source. “She wants it to be special and not rushed. Jen’s had to tell Jim in no uncertain terms ‘I can’t marry you’ — not right now, anyway.”

Time to Reflect

The slowdown has reassured some in Jen’s circle. “It’s actually come as a relief to a lot of her friends who believed she was moving way too fast and needed to pump the brakes for her own good,” says the source. “Nobody’s telling her to break up with Jim, but rushing down the aisle after barely a year of dating doesn’t make sense to a lot of folks in Jen’s orbit. It’s a classic case of too much, too soon.”

The shift marks a dramatic change from late last year. After Jen publicly used the L-word in November — barely six months into their romance — when she hard-launched their relationship on Instagram, an insider told Star wedding plans were already underway. “An intimate celebration in Greece has been discussed” to honor the couple’s shared Greek heritage, said the insider. Now, however, those close to Jen say reality has started setting in.

Her Work Era

For starters, Jen once freely admitted to People she’s “a bit of a workaholic.” Her main commitment right now is to The Morning Show. “She wants to keep that going for many more seasons,” says the source, noting that the acclaimed Apple TV+ drama series is now shooting its fifth season. “But there are other projects she still wants to get off the ground.” Between acting, producing and overseeing her growing LolaVie haircare line and other endeavors, the Emmy winner simply isn’t prepared to put everything aside to tie the knot. “The wedding can wait,” says the source. “But many of these work projects cannot.”

Another stumbling block is deciding where — and how — to build a life together. “Jen and Jim have gone back and forth about a full-time move to New York City, but as of yet it’s not something she’s been willing to commit to,” the source explains. “She likes it there but in a small-doses capacity. L.A. is where she feels most settled, so it’s hard for her to give up everything she knows and loves.”

That’s become increasingly complicated because Jim’s life is rooted on the East Coast. The divorced father of one, whose teen son lives with his ex-wife in New York state, has been based professionally in NYC for years and is preparing to release his third self-help book, The Book of Possibility: Release, Align, Become, in September. Meanwhile, Jen’s world is centered in California. “The dogs are settled at her place in Bel Air, most of her friends are in California and it’s a whole lot easier for work,” explains the source.

The pair have tried to bridge the gap. In January, Jim listed his 1,200-square-foot Manhattan condo for $1.525 million, and the following month he and Jen were spotted touring an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. But living on two coasts is a no-win scenario Jen’s experienced before. After she and second husband Justin Theroux, 54, split in 2017 just two years after exchanging vows, Entertainment Tonight reported that “a major issue” behind their breakup was their inability to agree on where to live. Though Jen spent much of her childhood in NYC, she preferred L.A. while the Running Point actor remained deeply tied to Manhattan. They tried to make it work — Justin acquiesced and agreed to move across the country but frequently returned to NYC. Jen visited. But ultimately, “he was bicoastal, she was not,” ET’s source explained.

Prenup Pressure

There’s also the issue of money. With an estimated net worth of $320 million tied up in real estate, production deals, residuals, her beauty business and endorsement partnerships, for Jen — who divorced first husband Brad Pitt, 62, in 2005 after five years — there’s no scenario where she walks into a third marriage without legal safeguards in place. “Her business team would not countenance a new marriage without some form of protection,” says the source, adding that the legal realities of protecting Jen’s fortune have introduced unexpected tension. “Jen agrees with it in principle but worries about upsetting or alienating Jim if she insists he signs on the dotted line,” says the source. “Jim has to deal with that scenario or forget about a wedding ever happening — whether it’s now or down the line.” (With the nuptials on hold, however, any negotiations over the prenup have been scrapped.)

Pushing On

Still, no one disputes that Jen and Jim are a great couple. Jen has publicly gushed about the self-help author and hypnotherapist, calling him “very special, very normal and very kind” in a November interview with Elle and praising his desire to help people “move through their trauma and stagnation into clarity.” Jim, meanwhile, has made it clear he believes he’s found something lasting with the actress. During a December appearance on Lewis Howes‘ The School of Greatness podcast, he described their connection as something deeper than ordinary romance. “There’s this kind of soul connection, this loving kindness that is greater,” he explained, marveling that in his relationship with Jen, “[That’s what] I believe I’m experiencing.”

It’s been an intensely fast-moving year for the couple, who, as Jim told the Today show, had met through friends. “We chatted for a long time, and we became close,” he said. Within months, the pair had gone from quiet summer dinners in Big Sur to yacht vacations in Spain with Jen’s pals, including Jason Bateman and Amy Schumer, before the duo finally went public in November.

At that time, those close to Jen were hopeful that she’d at last found the grounded, emotionally intelligent partner she’d spent years searching for after suffering the heartbreak of her splits from Brad and Justin. Now, as Jen and Jim move into their second year together, some are second-guessing whether she even actually sees herself becoming a bride for the third time. Asked if she’d marry again, Jen once told Allure, “Never say never, but I don’t have any interest.” Jim, says the source, “is a very calm character,” but his circle fears deep down, he’s worried “Jen may be getting cold feet.”