Jennifer Aniston has refuted claims about why she didn’t have children during her five-year marriage to Brad Pitt.
They were once the toast of Hollywood. One of the biggest stars on TV in Aniston, who was riding high as Rachel in Friends, and Pitt, who was huge presence on the silver screen.
One of the biggest surprises was that the couple never had any children, especially now that Brad subsequently went on to have six with Angelina Jolie – three biological and three adopted children.
Soon after Jen and Brad split in 2005, after he had fallen for Jolie on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith, Jen spoke out about rumours that the lack of offspring had been due to her ‘reluctance.’
(Image: Reuters)
There were stories at the time of their split that Aniston ‘cared only about her career’.
In an interview with Vanity Fair , her first after the split, Jennifer refuted this claim and pointed the finger at Brad instead.
An angry Aniston said: “A man divorcing would never be accused of choosing career over children. That really p***** me off.
“I’ve never in my life said I didn’t want to have children.”
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Aniston went on to say that she was still planning to have kids in the future.
She continued: “I did and I do and I will! The women that inspire me are the ones who have careers and children; why would I want to limit myself?
“I’ve always wanted to have children, and I would never give up that experience for a career. I want to have it all.”
Aniston believes that Pitt ‘could have done more’ to refute the claims about their decision on having a family.
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In fact, a mutual friend actually lay the blame at the door of Pitt, saying: “Having a baby was not his priority… ever.
“It was an abstract desire for him, whereas for Jen it was much more immediate.”
The friend believes that Pitt kept quiet as he wanted to be “cast as the poor husband who couldn’t get a baby and so had to move on?”
For the former Friends star, the question about children was one that continued to dog her throughout her life.
(Image: Press Association)
The actress, now 50, penned an opinion piece for Huffington Post in 2016, in which she begged for the scrutiny to stop after endless stories, messages and social media posts asking whether she was pregnant.
Aniston wrote: “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 reasoned that everyone is complete with or without a mate, and with or without a child.
(Image: Getty Images)
Aniston continued: “We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone.
“Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples.
“We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own ‘happily ever after’ for ourselves.”
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