JENNIFER ANISTON - MACLAINE IMPRESSED WITH ANISTON'S PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

JENNIFER ANISTON has a new fan in movie veteran SHIRLEY MACLAINE, who admired her ability to keep her very public marriage heartache away from the set of their new film.

The TERMS OF ENDEARMENT star was a constant shoulder for Aniston to cry on on the set of RUMOR HAS IT but Maclaine insists she'll remember her friend's professionalism over what was going on as her marriage to BRAD PITT crumbled.

Maclaine says, "This woman has a core of real understanding of how to deal with suffering and a capacity to separate her suffering from the discipline of work.

"We were all reading the papers and the magazines... and we had some long talks that I don't want to discuss and we got to know each other.

"I admire her for what she went through and probably still is going through."

Maclaine understood the other side of Aniston's heartache too because like Pitt, who fell for ANGELINA JOLIE on the set of MR + MRS SMITH, she has often fallen for her love interest in movies.

She adds, "You're in an environment where you're asked to access all of your true emotions and use them. There is nothing sexier."