Jennifer Aniston grateful to her late first love for sending her Justin Theroux

Jennifer Aniston must believe in guardian angels.

In a new interview with the New York Times, the 45-year-old actress says she may have her first serious boyfriend to thank for sending her fiancé Justin Theroux, 43. Sadly, he's no longer around to accept her gratitude.

"He was my first love — five years we were together," the actress says of her ex, who died years later from a brain tumour. "He would have been the one. But I was 25, and I was stupid. He must have sent me Justin to make up for it all."

And it's a gift that keeps giving. The most recent present was an engagement ring with a massive diamond.

"It's a rock, I know," Jen says of the sparkly bauble. "He rocked it up. It took me a while to get used to it. I'm not a diamond girl. I'm more Indian jewelry and stuff."

Jen recently spoke to In Style about her wedding choices: whether to meticulously plot a secret ceremony a la Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden or "just do it and say screw it".

"If we could do it without all the buzzing and the noise… It can be done," she said. "When there's a will, there's a way."

For now, her biggest decision is what to wear to the Golden Globes in a few days. Jen is up for best actress in a drama for de-glamming in Cake. She plays a woman contemplating suicide after a terrible car accident leaves her scarred and pain-ridden.

Watch the trailer here.

Inside Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden's wedding