Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Jennifer Aniston responds to assumptions about choosing her ‘career over kids’

‘They don’t know anything, and it was really hurtful and just nasty,’ actor says

Peony Hirwani
Thursday 09 December 2021 05:02 GMT
Comments
Jennifer Aniston surprises nurse with $10,000 gift

Jennifer Aniston has responded to people who “assumed” that she chose her “career over kids”.

The 52-year-old actor shared details about how attention towards her private life had impacted her professional one in The Hollywood Reporter cover story published this week.

“Well, people certainly project onto you and all that, but my job is to go, ‘Listen, I’ll show you what I’m capable of, and you decide if you want to subscribe’,” Aniston said.

“So, you disappear as much as you can, you have fun, you take on these weird roles, you don’t give a s***, 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,” she said.

However, the Friends actor revealed that she used to take the “pregnancy rumours” and “career over kids assumption” very seriously.

“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 said.

This isn’t the first time Aniston has spoken about this.

In 2014, before her wedding to now ex-fiancé Justin Theroux, Aniston faced repeated tabloid speculation and was made to feel “selfish” for concentrating on her career instead of “settling down” and starting a family.

“Oh, God, so many painful things,” she told Allure magazine in December 2014. “The accusation that I’ve put my career before the want, the desire to be a mother. 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.”

“I don’t think it’s fair. You may not have a child come out of your vagina, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t mothering — dogs, friends, friends’ children,” she had said at that time. “Its quite rude, insulting, and ignorant. Even saying it gets me a little tight in my throat.”

In the interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Aniston also discussed how she was “bullied” and called a “liberal vax-hole” over her stance on vaccinations.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in