Jennifer Aniston is tired of reading about her life through salacious, untrue headlines on the front covers of tabloids, though she's gotten better at laughing it all off and focusing on more important things. In an interview for InStyle with Jimmy Kimmel's wife, Molly McNearney [1], the 49-year-old actress set the record straight over assumptions that she's "sad and heartbroken" because she's divorced and childless and wants everyone to know that she's perfectly happy choosing to focus on "my work, my friends, my animals, and how we can make the world a better place."
"First, with all due respect, I'm not heartbroken. . . Maybe my purpose on this planet isn't to procreate."
"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," Jennifer said. "First, with all due respect, I'm not heartbroken. And second, those are reckless assumptions. 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?"
However, that's not to say that there aren't kids out there buying Mother's Day gifts for the actress, who admits her dogs are her kids [2]. Molly says that Jennifer is "so genuinely invested" in her friends' kids that they buy her gifts for the May holiday. "You also have a home that kids want to go to. You have really mastered hosting families at your house," Molly said. Jennifer responds, speaking of Molly and Jimmy's kids [3]: "I love those rascals. Also, they're good kids. I have to say, we're lucky. There's not one kid in the group where you think, 'That little brat.'"
In a larger part of the pair's conversation touching on the scrutiny and sexism women face, Jennifer had one thing to say: "F that."
"Women are picked apart and pitted against one another based on looks and clothing and superficial stuff," she said. "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?"
Preach, lady.