Actor Jennifer Aniston revealed in an interview published Wednesday that she repeatedly attempted to become pregnant during her 30s and 40s, correcting years of tabloid-fueled rumors that she never wanted children.
In a December cover story for Allure magazine, the “Morning Show” star opened up about her “challenging … baby-making road” and the toll the public’s obsession with her reproductive activity took on her mental health.
“All the years and years and years of speculation. … It was really hard,” Aniston told Allure.
“I was going through (in vitro fertilization treatment), drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it. I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.’ You just don’t think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”
The 53-year-old actor also rejected the narrative that ex-husband Brad Pitt “left” her because she “wouldn’t give him a kid.” The Emmy winner is now married to “Mosquito Coast” actor Justin Theroux.
People assumed “that I was just selfish,” she said, “(that) I just cared about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child. … It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.”
In 2016, the “Friends” alum penned an op-ed for the Huffington Post shutting down rumors that she was pregnant and condemning the media for subjecting women and their bodies to relentless “objectification and scrutiny.”
“I got so frustrated,” she told Allure. “I was like, ‘I’ve just got to write this because it’s so maddening and I’m not superhuman to the point where I can’t let it penetrate and hurt.’”
Reflecting further on that “really hard” period of her life, Aniston declared, “I have zero regrets.”
“I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, ‘Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe,’” she added. “I don’t have to think about that anymore.”
