LOS ANGELES, Sept 23 ― It’s taken some time but Justin Theroux is finally opening up about his breakup with Jennifer Aniston earlier in February.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Theroux revealed that the breakup was gentle but heartbreaking: "The good news is that was probably the most ― I’m choosing my words really carefully ― it was kind of the most gentle separation, in that there was no animosity.

"Again, neither one of us is dead, neither one of us is looking to throw hatchets at each other. It’s more like, it’s amicable. It’s boring, but, you know, we respected each other enough that it was as painless as it could be.

"It was heartbreaking, only in the sense that the friendship would not be the same, as far as just the day to day. But the friendship is shifting and changing, you know, so that part is something that we’re both very proud of.”

Theroux and Aniston announced their separation earlier this year after two years of marriage, while maintaining that they remain "best friends”. The pair had met on the set of the 2008 film Tropic Thunder and started dating in 2011.