In a candid new interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK for the November issue, the 56-year-old actress opened up about years of silence and speculation, saying that very few people ever knew the truth.
“They didn’t know my story, or what I was going through over the past 20 years trying to have a family — because I don’t talk publicly about my medical issues. It’s no one’s business,” Aniston said. “But there comes a point when you just can’t listen anymore — that rumor that I didn’t want children, that I didn’t want a family because I’m selfish or because I work too much. It affected me. I’m human too.”
Aniston said that as she’s grown older, she feels less of a need to “correct false narratives.”
“The news cycle is so fast now that everything gets forgotten. Of course, there are moments when I feel the need for justice — when something false is written and I want to fix it. But then I think, should I really? My family knows the truth. My friends know the truth.”
The actress — who was married to Brad Pitt from 2000 to 2005 — has previously spoken about the emotional struggles she faced trying to become a mother. In 2022, she revealed that she had undergone unsuccessful IVF treatments, admitting she wished she had frozen her eggs earlier.
“It was a hard road for me — the path to motherhood,” she said at the time. “In my late 30s and 40s, I went through a lot of tough things. But if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”
Aniston recalled years of relentless speculation about her fertility:
“I was doing IVF, drinking Chinese teas, whatever could help. I would’ve given anything for someone to tell me, ‘Freeze your eggs — do yourself that favor.’ But you don’t think about it at the time. That ship has sailed now, but I have no regrets.”
She also dismissed as “a complete lie” the long-standing rumor that Pitt left her because she didn’t want children. Pitt went on to have six children with Angelina Jolie — Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne — before their split in 2016.
Aniston later married Justin Theroux in 2015; the couple divorced three years later. Theroux remarried earlier this year in a private ceremony with actress Nicole Brydon Bloom. This past July, Aniston confirmed she has found love again with hypnotherapist and life coach Jim Curtis.
Ask me anything
Explore related questions
