Is Justin Theroux’s edgy new girlfriend a 26-year-old lady he met at the gym?

Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston split after two and a half years of marriage *FILE PHOTOS*

It’s been a while since we checked in on The Edgy Breakup of Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux. I’m actually sort of shocked that two months later, Jennifer really did manage to come out of this relationship smelling like a rose. Who would have thunk? Now, I’m not suggesting that her media team manipulated the entirety of the coverage around Justin to make him look like a foolish hipster poseur, but if she and her team actually had a hand in it, it was a genius strategy. But really, I think Justin really, really wanted out of the marriage and he was willing to make any argument for why he left: he was bored and edgy and Jennifer was all about beaches and chicken salad.

Anyway, there’s already been a ton of speculation about Justin’s love life these days. I still believe that Petra Collins is in the mix, but perhaps Justin is too edgy to be tied down with just one sidepiece. Justin was photographed with his edgy guns out a few days ago, walking with a young, pretty woman:

Who is she? According to the Daily Mail, her name is Erika Cardenas, and she’s 26 years old. Justin is 46. The DM’s sources say that Erika and Justin met at the gym and they’re “just friends.” They knew they were being pap’d, for what it’s worth – they walked together, they sat in a cafe together, they ate together, they laughed together. It looked like a low-key date to me. It’s all so edgy and hip, isn’t it? Only truly edgy men go for such a cliche: the 20-years-younger hot woman they met at the gym.

Justin Theroux enjoys a solo walk in the West Village

Photos courtesy of PCN and Backgrid.

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91 Responses to “Is Justin Theroux’s edgy new girlfriend a 26-year-old lady he met at the gym?”

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  1. Caroline says:

    Nothing says edgy like an enormous gold Rolex that your rich ex-wife probably bought you.

  2. Esmom says:

    Their age difference is really apparent in that photo of them at the cafe. She looks like she’s humoring a friend’s dad.

    • QueenB says:

      And she looks way younger than 26.

    • Tulip Garden says:

      Hahaha! Humoring a friend’s dad is so spot on.
      She is a very pretty and very young woman. Love her curls.

    • Wellsie says:

      She is so beautiful. Run, honey! Find someone not so… this guy.

    • sallyjr says:

      She literally looks like my 16yo niece. Oh stay away from ‘Justedge,’ sistah and his creepy boo Terry Richardson too. I was surprised to see him with a young black woman – because he and aniston seemed to have zero friends of color.

      What I find hilarious is that anyone thinks the disdain people have for him now had to be orchestrated by Aniston and her PR. People don’t get it: how it works is that any man who Aniston gets with, will get all the adoration and perks from her enablers/supporters/fans…when they leave Aniston however, they will be attacked ruthlessly and buried.

      Have you seen Vince Vaughn or John Mayer recently. They are the unforgiven. If Justedge makes it out of that box (her fans put her exes in) it will be commendable.

      To date only a ‘Brad Pitt’ is impervious to the slings and arrows from her still loyal supporters.

      • Esmom says:

        I don’t know about that. I honestly think no one cared about her and Vince V or John M. If they faded away it had nothing to do with her, imo.

      • Moe says:

        ‘Justedge’. Love that!

      • sallyjr says:

        Hi @Esmom

        Actually her fans breathlessly watching Oprah and buying tabloids and weeklies for news of her upcoming weddings and pregnancies with Vince Vaughn and John Mayer, is indeed “caring.”

        Vaughn was on Oprah being badgered about a wedding, as was Mayer, when the latter followed Brad and Angelina to their Oscar ceremony, it stopped the presses because ‘nah nah nah look Brad, Aniston has a love story with someone now too and it’s better than yours!! Waaaah!!!” was the multitude of gossip stories of the day.

      • Tulip Garden says:

        @Esmom, yeah Mayer and Vaughn just had an uptick in interest while they were dating her. I think people just didn’t care about them as much when the relationships were over and didn’t care about the relationships themselves that much. it is like when your friend has a new partner, you only see them and spend time together while they are a pair. Unless the two of you develop a separate relationship then when the break up happens , they’re gone.
        Maybe Mayer, Vaughn, and Aniston picked up from fans from one another. Meh. I know Justedge had had a raised profile. He is very talented though.

  3. minx says:

    Have we heard anymore about a divorce? Filing, etc.? After all these weeks I’m thinking they weren’t married.

    • BrandyAlexander says:

      It would be so fabulous if they weren’t legally married. She wouldn’t owe him a dime, and it would make me think she’s actually smart. Come to think of it, did they ever even confirm they had a wedding? Maybe they just let people assume that….

    • Ruyana says:

      Agree. Nobody is even *talking* about a divorce, so I’m starting to think there was never a wedding.

    • SNAP says:

      Good point…maybe they just did a symbolic ceremony but may have never filed papers. I almost did that with my now hubby for practical/personal reasons, but we did end up getting a marriage license and getting married all the way. I did meet some people who had only a symbolic wedding but never filed any paperwork, that’s how i knew some couples go that unorthodox route, especially since they had been married before and wanted the symbolism of a wedding without the paperwork (it works for some people). I guess if the couples who go that route later break up it makes it way easier to separate without the legal implications of divorce. If that was the case for Anniston and Theroux maybe he didn’t see the point of staying longer and would explain somewhat why it seemed so easy for him to act as if he was single. He got his 5 minutes of media exposure, milked the “i’m Anniston’s current squeeze” and done with. No prenup needed with a symbolic wedding making it legally easier for everyone. Just a quick fame ride and a ceremony for tabloid exposure and peaked interest…interesting theory.

    • M says:

      I like this theory because Aniston’s always struck me as just quietly ignoring traditional expectations while letting her fairly traditional-seeming fan base project all their marriage-and-baby ideas onto her. Lady would have had no trouble having a baby on her own (biological if that was possible for her, or adoption if preferred or necessary) if that’s what she wanted. And her partner choices don’t strike me as a tragic inability to find the right guy, it looks like she dates who she wants when she wants, with different degrees of seriousness.

  4. Jenns says:

    Ugh. This guy. So disappointing. I really thought he had potential.

    And all Jennifer needed to do was nothing. He’s showing his a** all on his own.

    • Tulip Garden says:

      Right?! Jennifer’s p.r. just had to sit back and let Justedge be himself. I would say he was considerate but I don’t think he can help himself. 😉

      • tracking says:

        I can’t quite figure it out. Either he hid his Justedge-ness pretty well for seven years, or he’s in the middle of a full-blown mid-life crisis. His new cohort of 20something friends inclines me to believe the latter.

      • Tulip Garden says:

        @Tracking

        Idk what the deal with him was either. Maybe after locking down the marriage, he thought he could have his cake and eat it too. More precisely, maybe he thought he could come and go as he pleased like a drop-in husband, or returning college student! If his other major relationship was off/on for years maybe he was accustomed to “being on a break” ;).

        I’d like to think well of him but he has made it well nigh impossible. Since the split too many of his friends have spoken out about Justedge’s NYC street cred and how L.A. didn’t fulfill his artsy people quotient! I’m with Lainey on this one, Justedge has done himself no favors and has hurt the hipster, cool guy brand that he seems desperate to establish.

    • VirgiliaCoriolanus says:

      Still trying to figure out why it is a shock. He did the exact thing to Heidi sans cheating. It is hilarious that as soon as they separated Justin “became” an edgy poseur. He was one alllllll along.

      • Tulip Garden says:

        @VC,
        I do enjoy laughing at Theroux’s edginess and, yes, he has always been that way. I mean he takes it pretty far and it has always irked me. But, as with most people, there was other stuff I really liked about him. I find him hot, humorous, and talented. Those things haven’t changed.
        What has changed for me is watching a grown up go from having “hot feet” to get married to being too cool for his wife, her friends. and the entire city of L.A. That is an epic level of a-hole. You’d think some time during the past five years prior to the marriage, he might have noticed how much he didn’t want to live, um, the life that he had been living with the person he had been living it with. Idk, maybe she is the one that came to that conclusion after he spent more time gone than home. For whatever reason that they didn’t work out and I don’t know all of it and they’ll probably never say, there is a decent way to handle things. Justedge hasn’t taken that route imo.

      • minx says:

        I think Jen stans projected a lot onto him, made him the anti-Brad cool guy who would love JA forever. He didn’t suddenly change two months ago, or whenever they split. He’s the same guy.

      • gingitalk says:

        I think he married Jen to have more money with which to buy his very expensively edge wardrobe.

  5. Jayna says:

    It looks to me like she set the photo-op for herself up. Get used to being used for your fame, Justin. She’s 26 and a model, but she’s only five foot two. Yeah, she was on speed dial to the paps once he asked her for coffee or whatever they got together.

    • Red says:

      Yes, poor Justin being used for fame. Please, regardless of who actually called the paparazzi, they’re both enjoying it. She might get more attention, and he gets to say he was dating a pretty twenty something model.

      • Jayna says:

        True. But men like Justin have egos. If he set it up, that’s okay to someone like Justin, or just caught out with a beautiful young woman by paps, but men with huge egos can’t stand to think that a young, beautiful woman only accepted in this case Justin’s invitation only to immediately set up a pap shot for publicity for her Z-list career, instead of being bowled over by Justin’s older, edgy, intellectual hotness. LOL

  6. T.Fanty says:

    He’s turning orange.

    • Pandy says:

      And those ‘roidy arms (and tiny legs). Maybe his next move is joining WWE? God, he’s a tool.

      • BILLYPILGRIM says:

        @pandy
        Yeah, if my guy showed up guns out, I’d be like, “uh yeah, you need to change.”
        First date showed up guns out, uh yeah, that’d be the last date.

    • PlainJane says:

      That was my first thought too. Maybe one of Cheeto in Chief’s illegitimate spawn?

  7. Lala says:

    I swear before Valhalla…I thank the GAWDS that he was so good in “The Leftovers”….and I mean…that last episode….WHOA!!!! If it weren’t for that…and the fact that he is talented…he would be one of the BIGGEST sources of amusement for me! (Full disclosure…I will watch “Charlie’s Angels” each and every time its on cable…JUST to see him walk out of that fire…shirtless…)

    • slowsnow says:

      When we were watching the Leftovers here at slowsnow mansion we called his character the “hot cop”. To this day I cannot remember his character’s name! He is weirdly hot in that series. He was also not too shaby in Six Feet Under. I know it’s a thing to make fun of his style here but I like it and I think he has a lot of charm, as so has his cousin the documentarist Louis Theroux. They’re not pretty, but thet have something.
      I honestly could not care less about his PR and his outings in Brooklyn. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why we have these “find the girlfriend” articles about him here all the time.

      • Lala says:

        The man can act…the man can write…you CAN’T take that away from him….

      • minx says:

        I do remember him from Six Feet Under and Sex and the City. I can see what he brings to the table 😉

      • equalitygadfly says:

        Louis Theroux is “smart hot.” Ben Mankewicz falls into the same category, as does a be-speckled David Jolly and Cornell Belcher.

      • Esmom says:

        He was so great (and hot) in The Leftovers. But how could you forget his name with “The Book of Kevin” obsession in Season 3? That little storyline irritated the crap out of me, lol.

      • Slowsnow says:

        @Esmom The book of Kevin! Yes! It’s funny because I actually feel like The Leftovers brought back a lot of what was good about a certain kind of TV such as Twin Peaks and Twilight zone. I usually am very verbal an remember names, expressions etc. But the Leftovers took me somewhere quite different. And the characters were so strong and beautiful in their own way that I overlooked some of the dialogue (except Patti’s) and the names of the characters. It was if I was seeing a book.

      • mia girl says:

        I still think everyone (Mimi L, Carrie Coon, Theroux, Lindeloff, etc) from the Leftovers got shafted for awards. That is one of the best TV shows EVER. I might re-watch now that we are talking about it.

        As for Theroux, I agree with you. I really like him as an actor and don’t really care about the PR stuff (though it is amusing).

        Maybe because I am not attuned to all the PR but I am leaning towards the idea that he had a mid-life “oh my gawd, my life is so not edgy anymore” crisis and bolted. But I don’t know why I have a suspicion that in the long-run, he and JA are not quite done yet.

      • Kitten says:

        Isn’t it so weird? On The Leftovers I was like “damn he’s a fox AND talented AND sexy voice” but whenever I would see pap shots of him around here I would be like “…is this the same dude?!?!?”

        That show did something magical for him in that it made him sexy, like a superhero. Outside of the show, in real life, he’s just Edgy Clark Kent. Even the expressions he makes in paps shots are so douchetastic but on that show? SO. HOT.

    • Jayna says:

      Justin is talented. He was great in Leftovers. He was also creepy good in Mute. He got better looking after his hair transplant or whatever system he has going on up there, and facial hair suits him.

  8. tracking says:

    Do you think he picked out that shirt specifically for his date? He’s an idiot. Also, he knew full well he’d be papp’d, so seems like he wants to hurt or annoy Jen A with all these photo ops with women. I wonder why. Oh, and nice fake tan, Sir NY Edge.

  9. K says:

    I’m sorry, but JT is super hot. I don’t care how try-hard edgy he is… I’d hit it in a second.

    • Honest B says:

      Am binge watching the Leftovers at the moment. I wouldn’t have thought this before watching the series but I’d hit it too. Over and over and over.

    • slowsnow says:

      Yup, me too – if there wasn’t Mr. Slowsnow that is. Ahem.

    • Tulip Garden says:

      Don’t be sorry! I’ve always thought he was hot, still do. Now he has just caused me to add other adjectives to describe him like *sshat or cliche. Too bad because he is talented and hot. I mean used to I could laugh with him but now I laugh, and cringe, at him.
      Still hot though.

      • tracking says:

        Yeah, I concur on all points.

      • Rachel in August says:

        His sneering attitude cancels all hotness, if it was ever there to begin with. He was never my idea of hot at all. He has all the personality warmth of a carp on ice. It even comes through in his acting. Both Heidi and Jen should consider themselves lucky.

      • tracking says:

        Rachel in August, I’m guessing you haven’t watched The Leftovers.

      • Rachel in August says:

        @ tracking, I have actually but didn’t care for it. Justin Theroux is just not my idea of hot. I don’t like his sort of attitude, like he’s the only one that was ever edgy and different. And he sometimes wears a safety pin in his ear? Um, laughing out loud here. I’m a little older so my idea of hot was always Sam Elliott or Harrison Ford, or Patrick Swayze. Not Justin Theroux, no. He doesn’t strike me as a nice person is all. I’m not all about looks, either. It’s voice, attitude, things like that. Arrogance and/or conceit is a complete and utter turnoff.

    • Veronica S. says:

      I probably would too, but I would definitely kick him out before he started reciting lines from his next book to me as pillowtalk.

    • Lauren II says:

      JT is hot as hell. Best he has ever looked.
      I am still wondering if he was Jen’s beard.
      They never had any chemistry. Everything seemed fake/rehearsed when they were out in public.
      At least JT takes care of himself & hasn’t had repugnant plastic surgery. His face looks real.

  10. Harla says:

    I needed a good laugh today, thanks Kaiser!!

  11. Shotcaller says:

    JT headlines are hilarious.

  12. Veronica S. says:

    God, he’s such a clichè. A good looking one, but a clichè.

  13. CharlieBouquet says:

    Oh wasn’t he in Straight Outta Vuitton?

  14. Pan says:

    I said it before and I say it again: all those stories came from her camp. That was the easiest, logical and most obvious place. I was quite shocked you thought it was from him. It was so ridiculous and over the top. I doubt Justin is a self sabotager so this was Jen all along. I have to say though, he got off easy. She could’ve buried him deep. I think this is because their relationship was over a long time ago and hey were never legally married.

    • tracking says:

      Not true. His camp was clearing feeding info to Page 6, ET, and People–his BFF (Carlos something) used the opportunity to plug his businesses in several of the stories! Other than the big post-split People write-up, I think Jen A’s camp has kept quiet.

    • NoShame says:

      He sent his friends to the press on day one to portray him as too cool for her. How in the world can Jen’s camp force him out in public with a Louis Vuitton backpack? Or stage these paps strolls with models? He’s doing well on his own portraying himself as a douche hipster. Literally ALL of the pictures we’ve seen of him in the last two months back up the fact that this douche image is coming from him.

      • Leonie says:

        It wasn’t douchie of Aniston to be missing a sensitivity chip and have intimate photos of herself and Theroux by Terry Richardson released only one week after Heidi Bivens fled the apartment she shared with Theroux, when the Theroux-Aniston affair came to light? Aniston was involved in that marketing which was more than a sensitivity chip missing, it was an abhorrent and cruel move. Especially since she spent a decade stalking and bad-mouthing Pitt and Jolie and their kids and trying to take them all down.

      • Pan says:

        oh i never said he was not “douche-y”, he’s had that style/aura for-evah! i said he did not plant those stories: those stories took a truth and made it ugly… very good strategy.

  15. Dr. Mrs The Monarch says:

    26, eh? Sounds like Mr Edgy-Cliché can start picking up Leo D’s rejects.

  16. Tess says:

    To be fair, i think the cliche would’ve been a willowy Instagram model type with long hair that he met in a boxing or jiujitsu gym and this girl is a stunning fun-looking WOC.

    • Tulip Garden says:

      It’s all in the context. For a lot of HW men, the willow blonde is the cliche. For Justedge, that would be common and pedestrian. Jen was that according to him, common/pedestrian/blonde. He needs something different to regain his NYC hipster street cred. This girl is really too beautiful for that too but I guess he’s willing to overlook it because, at least, no willow, no blonde, no boring.

      • Kitten says:

        This completely. He’s going for the opposite of what he just had. Not an unusual move post-breakup.

        She is insanely gorgeous though.

    • QueenB says:

      This is hilarious considering she IS an instagram model that posted a picture of her in a boxing gym LOL

  17. Rachel in August says:

    Yeah, showing off his muscles and being seen with a 20-something with an implant gap. Soooo edgy. Nothing has changed much, he still looks bored and irritated, much like the same cold person he’s always been.

  18. Beatrix says:

    I’m enjoying how much an aloof, high-falootin’ New York artiste feels the need to tan himself to such an extent.

  19. BJ says:

    Oh she’s cute.I can’t wait to see their babies.
    Just Kidding.

  20. Nicegirl says:

    Lmfao easy e muscle t. So edgy!!

  21. mela says:

    She is adorable but model? Um she looks like 5 feet tall.

    Everyone is a “model” these days that hires a photographer to take pictures of themselves for their instagram.

    • tracking says:

      Apparently she’s something called a “lifestyle model,” though I don’t know what that is. Maybe more catalogue and fitness work, which is less dependent on height?

  22. Emily says:

    If they met at the gym, can she convince him to add in a leg day here and there?

    • Kitten says:

      LMFAO!

      To be fair to Justin, SO many gym bros end up with the overly-built upper body and tiny legs. Guys are all about chest, shoulders, and arms. Dumb because they end up looking lop-sided. Also, I LOVE a nice pair of legs on a guy (my dude has ’em)–so underrated!

  23. Miasys says:

    Help me understand his appeal here? I just don’t get it. She is stunning and he’s so try-hard! Maybe she’s in it for pap strolls & media exposure?