The Morning Show has been more than just a job for Jennifer Aniston.

The actress, 56, plays fictional news anchor Alex Levy in the Apple TV+ series, who she tells PEOPLE has “been such a fun character to play.” The role, though, has opened Aniston’s eyes to the reality of life as a journalist.

“I have the utmost respect for journalists,” she says at the New York City premiere for season 4 on Sept. 9. “I mean, I always have — but even more so now.”

“Especially morning anchors,” Aniston continues. “It’s a grind.”

Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show.Apple TV+

Aside from deepening her respect for journalists, Aniston says that there’s also been a catharsis in playing Alex.

“Oh my goodness,” she said when asked about how her own relationship with fame compares to that of her character’s. “Well, there’s definitely some mirroring going on.”

“I think Alex is a lot more expressive and verbal than I am,” Aniston explained. “There’s a little bit of — you get that out of your system, in the best way.”

She added, “I love playing her.”

Jennifer Aniston in “The Morning Show”.Apple TV+

In season 4, Aniston’s character and the team at UBA, which includes Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Karen Pittman, Nicole Beharie, Mark Duplass and Greta Lee, are grappling with “new responsibility, hidden motives and the elusive nature of truth in a polarized America” after UBA merged with NBN.

The actress previously told PEOPLE that making the show — which she and Witherspoon, 49, are also executive producers on — “takes a lot out of you.”

“We’re involved in every single aspect of the show, on top of just the performance side, which is a big piece of it,” she said. “But I’ve got incredible support, and we have such an incredible team.”

“The Morning Show is just a beast to film,” she continued. “It is layered, it’s complicated, it’s emotional, it hits on a lot of topics and current events, so let’s just say, it’s not Friends.”

Aniston later compared working on the show to “what childbirth must be like.”

“Every year since I finished the first season, I was like, Well, that’s it — I’m dead. That just killed me,” Aniston told Glamour. “I kind of compare it to what childbirth must be like when my friends are like, ‘You just kind of forget what it was, and then next thing you know you’re knocked up again.’”