Jennifer Aniston has spoken of the pressure to have children while trying to pursue a successful career.
The former Friends star, 45, said she is hurt by repeated accusations that she has sacrificed the chance of motherhood for fame and fortune in Hollywood.
She said it was wrong for people to assume that women who haven’t chosen motherhood are somehow perceived to have failed in life.
“I don’t like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women, that you’ve failed yourself as a female because you haven’t procreated,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s fair. You may not have a child, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t mothering — dogs, friends, friends’ children.” Since her split from husband Brad Pitt in 2005, Aniston has been the focus of intense media scrutiny in the United States.
Almost every month a celebrity magazine speculates that she is pregnant, getting married or involved in a row with Angelina Jolie, who recently married Pitt and has six children.
In August she had to issue a denial that she was pregnant after photos of her at a red carpet event appeared to show a slight bulge in her dress. In an interview for the new edition of Allure magazine, Aniston was asked what was the most hurtful thing she has faced since becoming a Hollywood star.
“Oh god, so many painful things. The accusation that I’ve put my career before the want, the desire to be a mother,” she said.
“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.”
Aniston said the scrutiny feels like an unfair pressure on all women, not just her. “I have a lot of friends who decided not to have children, who can’t have children, or are trying but are having a difficult time,” she told the magazine.
“There’s all sorts of reasons why children aren’t in people’s lives, and no one has the right to assume. It’s quite rude, insulting, and ignorant.”
She said she had learnt to put up with the rumours but still finds it hard to take. “Even saying it gets me a little tight in my throat, she said.
The actress did not say in the interview if she wanted children, but spoke glowingly about her fiancé of two years, actor Justin Theroux, 43. “We’re equals,” she said. “He’s a nurturer. He is so fiercely loyal. Beyond protective.”
She refused to be drawn on any planned wedding, but added: “We do talk about it all the time.”
— Daily Mail
