After her highly publicized split from Brad Pitt in 2005, Jen found herself under relentless scrutiny, particularly regarding her choice to start a family with him. The media quickly portrayed Aniston as refusing to have children due to being too focused on her career. As a result, Pitt was perceived as having to find a new partner who was willing to have kids, which led to his relationship with Angelina Jolie.
Aniston told Vanity Fair in 2006, she was “incredibly pissed off,” by the rumor
“A man divorcing would never be accused of choosing career over children,” she told the publication at the time. “I’ve never in my life said I didn’t want to have children. I did and I do and I will! The women that inspire me are the ones who have careers and children; why would I want to limit myself? I’ve always wanted to have children, and I would never give up that experience for a career. I want to have it all,” she continued.
Before marrying Justin Theroux in 2014, Aniston faced tabloid speculation for prioritizing her career over 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.
She told THR in 2021:
“I used to take it all very personally,” she told the publication of the pregnancy rumours, “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.”