Retail therapy anyone? Justin Theroux was spotted engaging in a little shopping trip just days after returning to LA from NYC, where he’s been shooting a new Netflix show, the 46-year-old stepped out for coffee and a jaunt to some of the trendy boutiques on Melrose Place on Dec. 18. But it wasn’t with his wife, Jennifer Aniston. His shopping partner was Amanda Anka, the wife of actor Jason Bateman — who was nowhere to be seen either. “After so much time away from home,” a friend tells In Touch, “he went out for the day with Amanda — and left Jen on her own.”

Jen was hurt and jealous. “When she confronted him, Justin was flabbergasted. He told Jen they’d been out Christmas shopping for friends and family together — but his words didn’t placate her,” says the friend. Their marriage has long been strained because they spend so much time apart, notes the friend, so it drives Jen, 48, crazy that “every time he does actually get time off and manages to come to the same city, he hangs out with everybody but her!”

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Jen and Justin are both close with the Batemans. “Jen has done five films now with Jason,” notes the friend, and the couples often vacation together. “She, Amanda and their daughters actually joined her and Justin on their group honeymoon to Bora Bora along with a bunch of other celebrity pals.” Still, even the most understanding wife would find it bizarre that Justin hung out with Amanda, 49, alone, notes the friend. “They share a similar sense of humor and have developed a close relationship,” says the friend. “Jen has grown incredibly jealous.” It’s not the first time. Justin’s flirty nature and closeness with his many female friends — including his BFF Amy Sedaris and his Leftovers co-stars Liv Tyler and Margaret Qualley — have always “been one of the couple’s chief problems,” adds the friend.

But it’s just one of many issues in the couple’s rocky two-year marriage. “They haven’t been photographed together in over three months as they lived separate lives, with her in LA and him in New York,” says the friend, noting that after Justin filmed On the Basis of Sex in Montreal this fall, he went right into shooting Maniac with Emma Stone in his beloved NYC, where he maintains his old bachelor pad. Though Justin finally returned to his and Jen’s Bel Air mansion for the holidays, says the friend, “Their relationship remains ice-cold.”

While reps for the couple deny problems in the marriage, a friend says Jen and Justin “have barely been speaking to each other.” And they’ll be pulled apart again in a matter of weeks as Jen focuses on preproduction for her new Apple series with Reese Witherspoon, which will be moving forward in 2018, while Justin, says the friend, is planning a road trip with buddies and a return to NYC in January. Jen’s hoping to make a “last-ditch effort” by taking Justin on a romantic getaway — just the two of them this time. “But,” adds the friend, “in their hearts, they both know their marriage is falling apart.”

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