PASADENA, Calif. — Though she's furious that a photographer surreptitiously shot topless pictures of her at her home, Jennifer Aniston is philosophical about it. "I might as well pull my pants down at this point. They've seen everything else," she jokes with Shirley MacLaine, her co-star in the new romantic comedy "Rumor Has It," which opened Christmas Day.

The paparazzi have targeted Aniston ever since she was one of the sexy six on the enormously popular sitcom "Friends."

First it was her hairstyle. Then it was her dating patterns. Then her marriage and now her divorce. "It's horrendous," sighs Aniston, who's dressed in a black sleeveless turtleneck and jeans, a beige stole embroidered with blue flowers draped over her tan shoulders.

"If I drive really slowly and watch what's happening behind me, these men are driving on sidewalks," she says. "They're cutting through intersections. It's very weird. Now they are hiring gang members. It's a whole new breed. There's this whole new photo agency that's been started. There was an article in the (L.A.) Times a couple of weeks ago, they are basically hiring retired gangsters, and they just need to shoot a picture. They don't have to have any photography school. They just have to know how to be aggressive and scare the (expletive) out of people and get the picture."

That's true, and much of the public sides with Aniston against the paparazzi. About that she says, "On an energetic level, I feel it's wonderful. It was very comforting. I was actually surprised to see that kind of a reaction but I really did kind of tune out all of that."

In her latest film Aniston plays the supposed granddaughter of the "real" Mrs. Robinson who was depicted in film "The Graduate." MacLaine plays the notorious Mrs. Robinson and Kevin Costner the once-nebbish graduate who was seduced by the glamorous femme fatale years ago. Briefly, Aniston falls for him — the same guy who had both her mother and grandmother in hot pursuit.

But older men are not for her, says Aniston, 36. "That never pans out, because I think eventually you grow up. When I was like 21, I dated an older man, about 18 years older. It was stupid. It was. It was fun for a minute, then like, 'Can I get you some tea or a crutch?' " she says.

Aniston was shooting "Rumor Has It" during the tsunami of publicity rising out of the demise of her 4 1/2-year marriage to actor Brad Pitt.

"She was going through the worst of all of this during the making of the film and most people didn't know that," says Rob Reiner, the film's director.

"There was a lot of speculation going on but nobody was acknowledging that. After the film finished, a lot of this stuff came out. I've got to tell you, I've never seen anybody with such grace under fire as Jennifer has. I have such respect for her. There were times when what she was going through applied in scenes and she allowed that to happen," he says.

"But for the most part, you have to separate those things and do your work. So she was extraordinary and a tremendously gifted actress. I have such respect for her because I don't know I could've done what she did."

Though she's been performing since she was 11, Aniston says she thinks she earned her emotional stamina from her family. "I learned by example of what not to do by watching my parents," she shrugs. "I watched my mother be very bitter and very angry throughout a divorce and never let it go and waste the whole second half of her life. So, I thank her for that unconscious sacrifice of what not to do. I think accountability, taking responsibility, because it's so easy to blame, to point to, be victimized. That's just a waste of time."