John Aniston, Jennifer’s Father, Dies at 89

Jennifer Aniston’s father, John Anthony Aniston, born in Chania, Greece, passed away on Friday at the age of eighty-nine.

The actress, 53, took to Instagram to pay tribute to her dad with a slew of snaps of them together over the years.

Aniston wrote on her Instagram page: “Sweet papa…⁣John Anthony Aniston. You were one of the most beautiful humans I ever knew. I am so grateful that you went soaring into the heavens in peace – and without pain. And on 11/11 no less! You always had perfect timing. That number will forever hold an even greater meaning for me now I’ll love you till the end of time.”

She was referring to her famous “11 11” wrist tattoo.

John Aniston’s exclusive interview with Greek Reporter

John Aniston was also an actor who was best known for his role as Victor Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives. He first appeared on the soap opera in July 1985.

John Aniston, originally named Yannis Anastasakis before changing his last name, was born in Chania, Crete in Greece.

In an exclusive interview, he told Greek Reporter that his father came to the US in 1910. He later joined the US Army and went to fight in France during WWI. He was wounded, but, when he returned to the US, he opened several businesses in Caspar, Wyoming, an oil town at the time.

When the oil production ceased, his father returned to Greece and got married, swearing to his grandfather that he would never take his wife out of Greece.

“But as the economy grew worse in the country in the late 20s he took his wife (my mother) and came back to the US,” John Aniston told Greek Reporter.

Aniston said that his family was back and forth between the U.S. and Crete, where he was born.

As a young girl, Jennifer Aniston also got to experience Greece personally. Aniston lived in Athens and then Crete for a short while with her family when she was five years old. She is even connected to other famous Greeks, such as Telly Savalas, most famous for playing Kojak. Savalas is her godfather.

Aniston has gone on record saying that her Greek heritage is part of the secret behind her ageless beauty. “My dad is 100 percent Greek; he turned 81 and he barely has a wrinkle,” she said. “And neither [did] my grandmother, who was 95 when she died.”