Standing up for herself. Before announcing her infertility struggles, Jennifer Aniston has been candid about her potential plans to become a mother — and why she wasn’t putting pressure on the process.
Throughout her career, Aniston has made headlines for several high-profile relationships. In 1998, the actress started dating Brad Pitt after they were set up by their agents. The couple exchanged vows in 2000 but ultimately called it quits after five years of marriage.
Shortly after their split, Pitt surprised fans when he was linked to his Mr. and Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie. (Pitt and Jolie, who share kids Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne pulled the plug on their relationship in 2016 after over a decade together and two years of marriage.)
Aniston, for her part, addressed the challenges of her public divorce from Pitt several years after their split. “There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening,” she shared with Vogue in 2008 about Pitt and Jolie’s romance. “I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. That stuff about how she couldn’t wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool.”
After moving on with Justin Theroux, the Friends alum slammed expectations about how she should be living her life. “We’re seeing women through a very narrow lens,” she told Lorraine Kelly during a December 2016 interview on ITV. “If we don’t have a baby or a white picket fence or a husband, then we’re useless. We aren’t living up to our purpose.”
That same year, Aniston penned an essay about the unfair pressures that women have to deal with in Hollywood.
“We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies,” she wrote in 2016. “That decision is ours and ours alone. Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples. We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete.”
Following her split from Theroux in 2017, the Cake actress later opened up for the first time about her past attempts to have kids.
“All the years and years and years of speculation … It was really hard,” she detailed in an interview with Allure, which was published in November 2022. “I was going through IVF, 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.”
According to Aniston, there would be assumptions that she was “selfish” because she was committed to her job. “I just cared about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child,” she continued. Referring to her marriage with Pitt, she added, “And the reason my husband left me, why we broke up and ended our marriage, was because I wouldn’t give him a kid. It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.”
The Emmy winner noted that she was shaped her the ups and downs in her life. “I would say my late 30s, 40s, I’d gone through really hard s—t, and if it wasn’t for going through that, I would’ve never become who I was meant to be,” she continued. “That’s why I have such gratitude for all those s—tty things. Otherwise, I would’ve been stuck being this person that was so fearful, so nervous, so unsure of who they were. And now, I don’t f—king care.”
Scroll down for Aniston’s most candid quotes about starting a family and pregnancy rumors:
Standing up for herself. Before announcing her infertility struggles, Jennifer Aniston has been candid about her potential plans to become a mother — and why she wasn’t putting pressure on the process.
Throughout her career, Aniston has made headlines for several high-profile relationships. In 1998, the actress started dating Brad Pitt after they were set up by their agents. The couple exchanged vows in 2000 but ultimately called it quits after five years of marriage.
Shortly after their split, Pitt surprised fans when he was linked to his Mr. and Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie. (Pitt and Jolie, who share kids Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne pulled the plug on their relationship in 2016 after over a decade together and two years of marriage.)
Aniston, for her part, addressed the challenges of her public divorce from Pitt several years after their split. “There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening,” she shared with Vogue in 2008 about Pitt and Jolie’s romance. “I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. That stuff about how she couldn’t wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool.”
After moving on with Justin Theroux, the Friends alum slammed expectations about how she should be living her life. “We’re seeing women through a very narrow lens,” she told Lorraine Kelly during a December 2016 interview on ITV. “If we don’t have a baby or a white picket fence or a husband, then we’re useless. We aren’t living up to our purpose.”
That same year, Aniston penned an essay about the unfair pressures that women have to deal with in Hollywood.
“We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies,” she wrote in 2016. “That decision is ours and ours alone. Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples. We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete.”
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Following her split from Theroux in 2017, the Cake actress later opened up for the first time about her past attempts to have kids.
“All the years and years and years of speculation … It was really hard,” she detailed in an interview with Allure, which was published in November 2022. “I was going through IVF, 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.”
According to Aniston, there would be assumptions that she was “selfish” because she was committed to her job. “I just cared about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child,” she continued. Referring to her marriage with Pitt, she added, “And the reason my husband left me, why we broke up and ended our marriage, was because I wouldn’t give him a kid. It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.”
The Emmy winner noted that she was shaped her the ups and downs in her life. “I would say my late 30s, 40s, I’d gone through really hard s—t, and if it wasn’t for going through that, I would’ve never become who I was meant to be,” she continued. “That’s why I have such gratitude for all those s—tty things. Otherwise, I would’ve been stuck being this person that was so fearful, so nervous, so unsure of who they were. And now, I don’t f—king care.”
Scroll down for Aniston’s most candid quotes about starting a family and pregnancy rumors:
Credit: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
February 2004
After tying the knot with Pitt, the Morning Show star hinted that they were trying to have a child. “It’s time. It’s time. You know, I think you can work with a baby, I think you can work pregnant, I think you can do all of it,” Aniston shared with The Guardian. “So, I’m just truly looking forward to slowing down.”
Credit: Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
August 2014
During an appearance on the Today show, the Dumplin‘ star slammed assumptions about her plans to have kids.
“I don’t have this sort of checklist of things that have to be done and if they’re not checked, then I’ve failed some part of my feminism or my being a woman or my worth and my value as a woman because I haven’t birthed a child,” she explained. “I’ve birthed a lot of things, and I feel like I’ve mothered many things. And I don’t feel like it’s fair to put that pressure on people.”
Credit: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
August 2014
“I just find it to be energy that is unnecessary and not really fair for those who may or may not [have children],” Aniston told People about getting asked about her personal life. “Who knows what the reason is, why people aren’t having kids. There’s a lot of reasons that could be, and maybe it’s something that no one wants to discuss.”
She added: “It’s everyone’s personal prerogative, that’s all.”
Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock
December 2014
The Golden Globe winner got emotional about feeling pressure from strangers who said she “failed” because she didn’t expand her family.
“I don’t think it’s fair. You may not have a child come out of your vagina, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t mothering — dogs, friends, friends’ children,” Aniston, who has a tattoo in memory of her late dog Norman, told Allure. “This continually is said about me: that I was so career-driven and focused on myself that I don’t want to be a mother, and how selfish that is. Even saying it gets me a little tight in my throat.”
Credit: Patrick Lewis/Starpix/Shutterstock
July 2016
“We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own ‘happily ever after’ for ourselves,” Aniston wrote in an essay for The Huffington Post, noting she “may become a mother” in the future. “Since I’m laying it all out there, if I ever do, I will be the first to let you know.”
Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock
March 2020
While speaking with Sandra Bullock for Interview magazine, Aniston opened up about what she would like to see in her future.
“I hear the ocean, I see the ocean, I hear laughter, I see kids running, I hear ice in a glass, I smell food being cooked,” she shared at the time. “That’s the joyous snapshot in my head.”
Credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
December 2021
The California native reflected on taking public criticism “personally” over the years. “The pregnancy rumors and the whole ‘Oh, she chose career over kids’ assumption,'” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s like, ‘You have no clue what’s going with me personally, medically, why I can’t … can I have kids?’ They don’t know anything, and it was really hurtful and just nasty.”
Aniston added: “So you disappear as much as you can, you have fun, you take on these weird roles, you don’t give a s—t, you enjoy yourself, you remember that you have a gorgeous group of friends and your life is blessed and you do the best that you can.”
Credit: Dan Steinberg/Shutterstock
November 2022
During an interview with Allure, Aniston got candid about her private attempts to have a baby. “I was trying to get pregnant. It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,” she explained. “I have zero regrets. I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, ‘Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.’ I don’t have to think about that anymore.”
