Jennifer Aniston Addresses Decades of Pregnancy Speculation

Following her Golden Globe-nominated turn in The Morning Show Season 2, Jennifer Aniston gave an enlightening new interview to The Hollywood Reporter and opened up about the decades of speculation into her personal life, particularly her decision to not have children. The Friends star got frank about how the attention has affected her life, explaining that while the tabloids may have been more brutal back in the time of her divorce from Brad Pitt, the rise of social media has that kind of pressure coming from all sides.

“What the tabloids and the media did to people’s personal lives back then, regular people are doing now. Although I haven’t seen a tabloid in so long. Am I still having twins? Am I going to be the miracle mother at 52?” she laughed. “Now you’ve got social media. It’s almost like the media handed over the sword to any Joe Schmo sitting behind a computer screen to be a troll or whatever they call them and bully people in comment sections. So it’s just sort of changed hands in a way. And I don’t know why there’s such a cruel streak in society. I often wonder what they get off on.”

Aniston also opened up about the double standard that women face in the industry, particularly when they decide to focus on their careers instead of family. Aniston explained that while she tries to maintain as much mystery as she can so people can see her characters instead of her public persona onscreen, it can be hard to fight the stereotypes. “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,’” the actress 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. I used to take it all very personally — the pregnancy rumors and the whole ‘Oh, she chose career over kids’ assumption. 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.”

Additionally, she went on to share how Dolly Parton, an icon in country music never had children either. “But are people giving her s— for it? No, no one’s tried to put her in a white picket fence,” she said. Aniston pointed out that, ultimately, men just don’t face the same scrutiny as women, and can be “married as many times as they want,” even going on to marrying younger women in their 20s or 30s. “[But] women aren’t allowed to do that. Men in their 30s, by the way, are way different from men in their 40s and 50s. And late 20s even — it’s a whole new world that I’m finding is alive and kicking and they’re not … what was my point?” she laughed. “Oh, about maintaining a little bit of mystery so that people can suspend disbelief when they see you in character. I guess I feel like if you’re doing what you do well enough, you should be able to do it. And if you’re not, you probably shouldn’t do it anymore.”