Hi. Hello. It’s 2021. Heck, it’s practically 2022. By now, we know better than to shame women for deciding to not have children. We even know it’s best to keep our mouths shut at all times when it comes to conversations with children. Well, at least most of us know that — most of us have been knowing that. But today, we’re talking about a time that truly knew no limits. A time when the tabloids were the wild wild west.
Yes, we’re talking about the early aughts.
Look, it’s no secret the women of the early 2000s deserve a huge apology from everyone. The media treated celebs like zoo animals. Everyone was eager to see them crumble and fall.
Tabloids’ favorite articles to run were cellulite roundups, upskirting shots, and pregnancy speculations.
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As you can imagine, this rhetoric was hurtful, to say the least. One of the most talked about celebrities back then, and today, is the iconic, eternally youthful Jennifer Aniston. Since she was a woman, it was only natural for everyone and their brother to assume that she was trying to get pregnant, right? WRONG!
Now, the actress is opening up about how those conversations affected her back then, and how she handles the press these days.
While chatting the “The Hollywood Reporter” the 52-year-old reflected on the scrutiny she received in the early aughts.
“I used to take it all very personally — the pregnancy rumors and the whole ‘Oh, she chose career over kids’ assumption,” she explained .
“It’s like, ‘You have no clue what’s going with me personally, medically, why I can’t … can I have kids?'”
“They don’t know anything, and it was really hurtful and just nasty.”
Thankfully, Jennifer doesn’t take it personally these days, and laughed at the idea of what these tabloids were trying to conjure up these days.
“Am I still having twins? Am I going to be the miracle mother at 52?” she said.
“Now you’ve got social media,” Jennifer pointed out.
“It’s almost like the media handed over the sword to any Joe Schmo sitting behind a computer screen to be a troll or whatever they call them and bully people in comment sections.”
She continued:
“So it’s just sort of changed hands in a way. And I don’t know why there’s such a cruel streak in society. I often wonder what they get off on.”
The interviewer recalled one of Jennifer’s interviews with feminist icon Gloria Steinem about how a woman’s worth is attached to her marital status.
“It’s the same with Dolly Parton; Dolly Parton never had kids,” she pointed out. But are people giving her [explective] for it? No, no one’s tried to put her in a white picket fence.”
Later in the interview, Jennifer called out the sexist double standard that exists not only in Hollywood but in many average women’s daily life.
It’s hard to be a woman over the age of 25 and not be asked when you’re getting married or having a baby.
“Men can be married as many times as they want to, they can marry (younger) women in their 20s or 30s. Women aren’t allowed to do that,” she said.
If you don’t agree, just think about how much Taylor Swift was scrutinized for just dating when she was a young, single woman in her twenties!
Thankfully, we ladies have strong women like Ms. Aniston to thank for leading the way for those who don’t follow the white picket fence mold. Way to go, Jen!
It’s 2021, leave women, their bodies, and their relationships alone!
