"I was trying to get pregnant. It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road," Aniston revealed.
Jennifer Aniston is opening up about her IVF struggles and the scrutiny she's faced over the years on the pressure of starting a family. It was not that the 53-year-old did not want a baby but the painful pregnancy rumors that plagued her for years took a toll on her. "I was trying to get pregnant. It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road," Aniston revealed in a candid interview with Allure.
"All the years and years and years of speculation… It was really hard," she noted. "I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it. I would have given anything if someone had said to me, 'Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.' You just don't think it." She continued, "So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”
The Friends star admitted that now in her 50s she feels a sense of relief. “I have zero regrets,” she shared. “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.”
Jennifer Aniston has zero regrets about trying IVF https://t.co/pUPlC74Z13
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 9, 2022
The actress however slammed the constant rumors that swirled around in the media as to why she wasn't having children. Last December the actress told the Hollywood Reporter she "used to take it all very personally" at the time. "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," she said.
The “narrative that I was just selfish,” she told Allure. “I just cared about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child. 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 Morning Show star actress also admitted that as she grew older, she's grown steadily more sure of the person she is. She also admitted to "hating" social media. “I’m really happy that we got to experience growing up, being a teenager, being in our 20s without this social media aspect. Look, the internet, great intentions, right? Connect people socially, social networking. It goes back to how young girls feel about themselves, compare and despair. I feel the best in who I am today, better than I ever did in my 20s or 30s even, or my mid-40s. We needed to stop saying bad sh*t to ourselves,” said Aniston, scolding her future self: “You’re going to be 65 one day and think, I looked f*cking great at 53.”
“I’ve spent so many years protecting my story about IVF," the "Friends" star said, adding that she doesn't have "anything to hide" anymore. https://t.co/pZSTTkmFMp
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) November 9, 2022
Aniston also addressed constant pregnancy rumors back in 2016, writing an essay for the Huffington Post saying, "For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up."
"Here's where I come out on this topic: 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. That decision is ours and ours alone," she wrote.
"Let's make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples. Let's make that decision consciously, outside of the tabloid noise. We don't need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own 'happily ever after' for ourselves. I have grown tired of being part of this narrative. Yes, I may become a mother some day, and since I'm laying it all out there, if I ever do, I will be the first to let you know. But I'm not in pursuit of motherhood because I feel incomplete in some way."
References:
https://www.allure.com/story/jennifer-aniston-december-2022-cover-interview
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-the-record_b_57855586e4b03fc3ee4e626f?0830ynt7rezmpldi=
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Matt Winkelmeyer
