Jennifer Aniston Discusses 20-Year Fertility Struggle and Corrects ‘False Narrative’ About Motherhood

Trigger warning - this article discusses infertility and IVF

Jennifer Aniston has opened up about her decades-long fertility struggles in a candid new interview. The Friends star, who detailed her 'challenging' IVF journey for the first time in 2022, elaborated on the difficulties she faced privately while being subjected to endless criticism for being child-free during both her marriages, and in the wake of her divorces. In 2016, while married to Justin Theroux, Jen An penned an op-ed for HuffPost where she responded to pregnancy rumours stating that she was 'fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily'.

In a new interview for Harper's Bazaar, Jennifer explained why she finally decided to correct the narrative. She told the publication: "They didn’t know my story, or what I’d been going through over the past 20 years to try to pursue a family, because I don’t go out there and tell them my medical woes. That’s not anybody’s business. But there comes a point when you can’t not hear it – the narrative about how I won’t have a baby, won’t have a family, because I’m selfish, a workaholic. It does affect me – I’m just a human being. We’re all human beings. That’s why I thought, 'What the hell?'"

Jennifer married Brad Pitt in 2000, and during their relationship she was often the subject of pregnancy speculation and body-shaming. When the couple divorced in 2005, she was then accused of prioritising work over starting a family. But over the course of two decades, The Morning Show star had been quietly undergoing unsuccessful rounds of IVF. Sharing why it suddenly felt important for her to share her story, Jennifer explained: "Because I knew a lot of women at the time who were trying to have kids, who were dealing with IVF. So it did feel like it was not only for myself, but for any women who were struggling with the same issue."

In an interview with Allure magazine, Jen An discussed feeling the same pressure during her second marriage to Justin Theroux. The couple were together for seven years, but divorced in 2018. Once again, she faced accusations of prioritising work over motherhood when their relationship ended. She told the publication: "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."

If you have been affected by anything discussed in this article, The Fertility Foundation can provide support to those seeking advice.