‘Maybe I Have Other Things To Do?’ Jennifer Aniston On The Pressure On Women To Be Mothers

Just when we thought we couldn’t love Jennifer Aniston any more, she’s just gone and given the most real interview ever, speaking about the pressure on women to have kids, as well as how she’s treated by the tabloids.

When Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt split up in 2005, Jen began to be inaccurately painted as this poor, lonely, childless woman. She became one of the richest women in entertainment, she starred in an abundance of hit Hollywood films and supported so many charities, but yet everyone was still saying ‘Poor Jen’ – and it was just wrong.

Speaking to InStyle for their September issue, Aniston kicked those ‘Oh you’re a woman, you must become a mother’ assumptions to the curb.

“The misconceptions are ‘Jen can’t keep a man’, and ‘Jen refuses to have a baby because she’s selfish and committed to her career.’ Or that I’m sad and heartbroken. First, with all due respect, I’m not heartbroken,” she said.

No one knows what’s going on behind closed doors. No one considers how sensitive that might be for my partner and me. They don’t know what I’ve been through medically or emotionally. There is a pressure on women to be mothers, and if they are not, then they’re deemed damaged goods. Maybe my purpose on this planet isn’t to procreate. Maybe I have other things I’m supposed to do?

When a couple breaks up in Hollywood, it’s the woman who is scorned. The woman is left sad and alone. She’s the failure. F that. When was the last time you read about a divorced, childless man referred to as a spinster?

Being a mother shouldn’t be something that is forced on women, and it equally shouldn’t be a woman’s job to justify WHY she hasn’t had any kids. Jen, on behalf of women everywhere, we thank you for speaking out.

The truth-telling didn’t finish there, either. Her latest film, Dumplin’, tackles how we as a society define beauty, with Jen playing an ex-pageant queen. She says she’s delighted that the Miss America pageant will no longer have a swimsuit competition:

You know, a swimsuit body is a body in a swimsuit, no matter what that body is. It’s time to just stop thinking beauty is in the shape of a size 4 and the right butt size and the right waist size and the right measurements. It’s just old. We’ve done it. We’ve been there. Let’s move on.

And yes, she had to answer the question on if Friends will ever make a comeback. If she had her way, it would:

Courteney [Cox] and Lisa [Kudrow] and I talk about it. I fantasize about it. It really was the greatest job I ever had. I don’t know what it would look like today, but you never know… I know Matt LeBlanc doesn’t want to be asked that question anymore. But maybe we could talk him into it. Or we just give it some time and then Lisa, Courteney, and I could reboot The Golden Girls and spend our last years together on wicker furniture.

This everything we never knew we needed. Someone please make it happen.

Jennifer Aniston has proven time and time again that she is a badass bitch, so let’s all stop feeling sorry for her. We love you Jen!

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• friends reunion
• instyle
• Jennifer Aniston