Jennifer Aniston’s mother, Nancy Dow, has died.
The Friends star released a statement to PEOPLE on Thursday confirming that her mum had passed away from illness.
“It is with great sadness that my brother John and I announce the passing of our Mother Nancy Dow,” said Aniston. “She was 79 years old and passed peacefully surrounded by family and friends after enduring a long illness.”
“We ask that our family’s privacy be respected as we grieve our loss.”
Dow had reportedly been in poor health since 2011 when she suffered a stroke, followed by a second stroke a year later.
The mother-of-two was married to actor John Aniston from 1965 to 1980 but the pair divorced when Jennifer was just 9 years old.
Dow was previously married to Jack Melick. Like her daughter, she had appeared on the screen, starring in The Beverly Hillbillies in 1966 and The Wild Wild West in 1967.
In 1999, at the height of Jennifer’s fame, Nancy betrayed her daughter by publishing an explosive memoir called From Mother And Daughter to Friends.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year Jennifer, 47, hinted at her strained relationship with her mother.
“She was critical. She was very critical of me. Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn’t. I never was,” she said.
“I honestly still don’t think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty.”
Despite the pair reportedly trying to patch things up over the years, Nancy was not invited to her daughter’s lavish wedding to Justin Theroux last year.
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