Jennifer Aniston Reveals Fertility Struggles and Pain Media Caused with "Absolute Lies"
Infertility is challenging enough, but imagine the world is watching, speculating, and even lying about you.
In a December cover story for Allure, actress Jennifer Aniston opens up about her struggle with trying, unsuccessfully, to have a child while living in the public eye.
Aniston is best known for her role as Rachel Green on NBC’s hit sitcom, Friends. She’s also had a successful film career and most recently is starring in “The Morning Show” on Apple TV. She is known the world over — something that’s an asset for an acting career, but not for a woman struggling with private pain.
“Remember the many (many) years that Aniston was the subject of a tabloid “bump watch”? ‘I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it,” she says. ‘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.'”
Not only did Aniston, now 53, have to endure public scrutiny and media speculation but often she was accused of being selfish and caring only about her career. Some outlets even reported that her marriages ended because she “wouldn’t give any of her husbands a child.”
“It was absolute lies,” she says. She has nothing to hide at this point in her life and career. “Aniston’s five-year marriage to actor Brad Pitt ended in 2005; she was with Justin Theroux from 2011 to 2018 (they married in 2015).”
According to NBC News, Aniston now says, “Despite everything she went through “I have zero regrets.”
“She added that she’s in a great stage of her life and ‘proud of my wrinkles and gray hair.’ There are no more what-ifs, she said, which is liberating.”
The CDC reports, “In the United States, among heterosexual women aged 15 to 49 years with no prior births, about 1 in 5 (19%) are unable to get pregnant after one year of trying (infertility). Also, about 1 in 4 (26%) women in this group have difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term (impaired fecundity).”
Dear Jennifer Aniston, I’ve cheered you on for decades…but today, I look at you differently. Thank you for being a voice for others who may silently suffer. https://t.co/E7c59tUJCy #infertility #IVF
— Her View From Home (@HerViewFromHome) November 9, 2022
From biblical times until now, the struggle to have a child comes with pain, questions, and sometimes the hardship of facing other people’s questions. One couple share their struggle on this episode of Parent Compass.TV on Liftable TV.
Exploring options to treat infertility can be costly but NASCAR champion Kyle Busch and his wife Samantha, who know the struggle, have set up a fund for others who don’t have the resources they did.
One important message we can take from Aniston’s vulnerable interview is to “not judge a book by its cover.” We must be gentle and sensitive around childless couples because we never know what struggles they may be facing privately.
None of us would want to add to the pain of someone who is trying to have a child but encountering barriers. Aniston’s interview is a reminder to pray for people because we never know what they’re facing.
