Jennifer Aniston says she’s “quite happy” and that “life is quite extraordinary,” but that she, like everyone else, has had challenges.

She battled throughout her youth with insecurity about her ability to learn and make sense of the world around her, finally concluding that she “wasn’t smart.”

She told the Hollywood Reporter, “I just couldn’t retain anything.”

And she struggled well into adulthood, announcing in her twenties that she had been diagnosed with dyslexia:

“The only reason I knew [that I had it] was because I went to get a prescription for glasses,” she explained. “I had to wear these Buddy Holly glasses. One had a blue lens and one had a red lens. And I had to read a paragraph, and they gave me a quiz, gave me 10 questions based on what I’d just read, and I think I got three right. Then they put a computer on my eyes, showing where my eyes went when I read. My eyes would jump four words and go back two words, and I also had a little bit of a lazy eye, like a crossed eye, which they always have to correct in photos.”

She stated, “Being equipped with this new understanding transformed my vision of my life forever.”

“Now I had this great discovery. I felt like all of my childhood trauma-dies, tragedies, dramas were explained.”

Her academic challenges prompted her to develop an “innate humor.” She used her sense of humour to make friends in school and subsequently pursue acting.

Aniston also discussed her mother, Nancy Dow, revealing the two had not spoken in years.

“She had a temper. I can’t tolerate that,” she stated. “She was critical. She was very critical of me. Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn’t. I never was. 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.”

“We’re all Now ok,” she says.

Aniston is currently engaged to actor and writer Justin Theroux. Her professional life is likewise on the rise. She just garnered a Golden Globe and SAG nomination (as well as critical acclaim) for her performance in the new film Cake, in which she plays an accident survivor.

Aniston is gracious about not receiving an Oscar nomination for her work in “Cake,” and says she doesn’t feel snubbed in the least. “I know a lot of people were sorry. I feel I’ve gotten such wonderful love — I had almost more phone calls and flowers than I did for any other nomination [in the past].”