Hollywood superstar Jennifer Aniston opens up about her life in the latest issue of Marie Claire. In an intimate interview, the actress calls out the notion that a woman who doesn’t have kids should be pitied.
In the Marie Claire article in the December issue out on newsstands November 15, the 47-year-old actress says:
“I HAVE WORKED TOO HARD IN THIS LIFE AND THIS CAREER TO BE WHITTLED DOWN TO A SAD, CHILDLESS HUMAN.”
In the interview, the former Friend’s star explains why she fought back against the harsh judgment women feel for not getting married or having children in her powerful Huffington Post op-ed she wrote in July. In that piece she said:
“The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for the bajillionth time… but who’s counting) points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they’re not married with children.”
She now tells Marie Claire that she wants to change the critical lens through which we look at women. You can get a sneak peak at the article here.
Jennifer Aniston opens up about being “at a crossroads” in our latest issue. Read more highlights: https://t.co/pj1MZc3sUo #JenforMC pic.twitter.com/R6r2C5tA6s
— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) November 7, 2016
I feel there is also harsh judgement doled out on mothers. When I worked in TV news, people who hardly knew me would come up in the supermarket and start shaming me about the long hours that I worked at a demanding job away from my kids. “Why did you have kids if you didn’t want to raise them?” one ballsy neighbor asked after word spread that I was late for my own daughter’s birthday party. I was covering a political convention.
Interviewing former Lieutenant Governor of New York Betsy McCaughey at the Democratic State Convention in NYC, 1998. Seated next to McCaughey is RNN Talk Show Host Richard French. He and I provided live convention coverage together throughout this event.
It didn’t matter that I had called my husband, who had left work early to back me up. The MOTHER wasn’t there. “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” my daughter said when I arrived late quoting from the phrase kids use when they think someone is lying. I had promised her that I would be there. I let her down. She ran into the house sobbing. Having other people pile on only made it worse. “What kind of a mother are you?” said another woman lashing out. Her daughter was a party guest and she had stayed to help my husband. I felt belittled. I felt condemned. No one cared that I had just scooped the competition.
It’s sad that a beloved megastar like Aniston, who has brought so much joy to our lives, feels she’s been shamed too.
You have to wonder how many women feel this way who try to achieve. In the Marie Claire interview, Aniston candidly says her love life has been “shamed” throughout her career, including her 2005 divorce from Brad Pitt. Aniston is now happily married to actor Justin Theroux.
Aniston is so right that we need to stop “picking” women apart. One size does not fit all, unless you are a teenager shopping at Brandy Melville.