Justin Theroux Talks About His STD Art and Jennifer Aniston’s Chickens in GQ

Justin Theroux opens up about his relationship with Jennifer Aniston in the October GQ cover story.

Being with the A-list actress has changed Theroux’s life.

He explains, “It’s a bit like going to a slightly different altitude, you know?”

The writer-actor-artist calls paparazzi “photojournalists” and admits that they’re annoying, also telling the magazine it’s weird “when I get complimented on the street because I’m having twins.”

Theroux reveals that he owns some interesting STD-themed artwork (really) that Aniston won’t let him keep in their home.

“I have these beautiful wax-museum pieces — handmade, from the 1800s — from a museum of curiosities. They’re just these open mouths, with tongues, and in the throats are different stages, labeled, of syphilis and gonorrhea and whatever,” he explains. “Those definitely found a great place in my office in L.A. They weren’t going to be above the fireplace anytime soon.”

The couple does have at least one unusual aspect to their Bel Air mansion: chickens.

“We inherited the chickens from the previous owners,” explains Theroux. “They were like, ‘Of course we’ll get rid of the chickens,’ and we said, ‘Are you crazy? Don’t get rid of the chickens. That’s half the reason we wanted this place.’”

When he was younger, Theroux dealt with a learning disability that made school extremely hard.

“That’s still my least favorite thing to hear,” he says. “Someone saying, ‘Don’t be stupid.’”

He recalls, “I could not keep my mind on one task,” describing the difficulty as like “trying to bite down on a tennis ball.”

“You go, ‘Okay, I’m going to try.’ Then the toe starts tapping, your hand moves, next thing you know you’re grabbing a pencil, breaking it, and throwing it,” remembers Theroux, who says he didn’t read a book beginning to end until he was in high school.

But life has improved since then, in part because he believes that success follows having fun.

He explains, “Whenever I’ve done anything where I feel like, ‘Oh, it would be smart to do that,’ it’s always been a mistake. Whenever I do the ‘Oh, it would be fun to do that,’ it’s always paid dividends.”

Theroux is perfectly OK with his limitations, like being terrible at sports.

He says, “That’s one of the things Jen loves about me.”