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Once again, Jennifer Aniston is tired of the rumors.
No, this one isn’t about salmon sperm facials or her hypnotist boyfriend.
For decades, the buzz has been that she “squandered” a chance at having a family in order to have a Hollywood career.
That’s not true. And it’s offensive. The truth is a painful subject and a personal struggle.
Jennifer Aniston has heard cruel rumors, and they can be hard to ignore
In a Harper’s Bazaar UK interview that came out on Thursday, October 9, Jennifer Aniston condemned claims that her busy career is why she never had children.
“They didn’t know my story, or what I’d been going through over the past 20 years to try to pursue a family,” she said of people circulating these rumors.
Aniston explained that this is “because I don’t go out there and tell them my medical woes.”
She correctly affirmed that her health and medical struggles are “not anybody’s business.”
Obviously, she is very well aware that being a public figure means sacrificing a certain degree of privacy. But there has to be a line — and people keep crossing it.
“But there comes a point when you can’t not hear it,” Aniston acknowledged.
“The narrative about how I won’t have a baby, won’t have a family,” she detailed.
Aniston continued, noting that these rumors claim that this is “because I’m selfish, a workaholic.”
She is not immune to these pernicious claims, noting that she is “just a human being” like anyone else.
“We’re all human beings,” Aniston emphasized. “That’s why I thought, ‘What the hell?’”
The truth is more painful than the lies
Even though Jennifer Aniston resents this pernicious rumor mill, she doesn’t step up to debunk each and every false claim.
“The news cycle is so fast, it just goes away,” she pointed out.
“Of course, there are times when I feel that sense of justice,” Aniston added.
She thinks of those times “when something has been said that isn’t true and I need to right the wrong.”
Aniston added: “And then I think, ‘Do I really?’ My family knows my truth, my friends know my truth.”
In 2022, Aniston revealed that she had tried IVF back when she was with Brad Pitt. They had wanted to start a family.
She opened up about that time in her life “because I knew a lot of women at the time who were trying to have kids.”
These were people “who were dealing with IVF.” Just as she had.
Aniston continued: “So it did feel like it was not only for myself, but for any women who were struggling with the same issue.”
And, as we know, not all fertility journeys end in conception. IVF can lead to many happy endings, but it is never a guarantee. And many people who are trying will run out of emotional strength — or funds.
Maybe society should stop expecting famous women to have kids?
Just for the record, if Jennifer Aniston had simply been too busy working, or living her life, to have kids, that would also be fine.
Not having kids is not “selfish.” And circulating this false rumor has been painful for a real human being.
Time and time again, we see people believe things and frame them as bad, when the thing is untrue and would not be bad if it were reality.
Often, this is in the political arena. Conspiracy theories and disinformation dominate too much of our culture.
In this case, however, there’s very little direct political motive. Our culture is drenched in misogyny, and a lot of people are just eager to fabricate reasons to resent a woman.
How many of them regret parroting a cruel talking point? Probably not enough, if we’re being honest.
Jennifer Aniston BLASTS ‘Selfish’ Rumors, Cites Painful IVF Struggles was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.