Jennifer Aniston said in a new interview she has "zero regrets" after going through in vitro fertilization, all while coping with intense media scrutiny about whether she wanted to have children.
Aniston, 53, best known as Rachel Green in the hit NBC sitcom "Friends" and currently starring in the Apple TV+ series "The Morning Show," sat down for a raw interview with Allure. She said that in her "late 30s, 40s, I'd gone through really hard s---" that no one knew about.
She then revealed she had attempted in vitro fertilization during that time.
"I was trying to get pregnant. It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road," Aniston said. "All the years and years of speculation ... It was really hard. I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it."
"I would've given anything if someone had said to me, 'Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.' You just don't think it. So, here I am today," she said. "The ship has sailed."
Despite everything she went through, Aniston told Allure, "I have zero regrets."
She added that she's in a great stage of her life and "proud of my wrinkles and gray hair." There are no more what-ifs, she said, which is liberating.
"I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, 'Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.' I don't have to think about that anymore," she said.
During the Allure interview, Aniston also reflected on how her private life was fodder for seemingly endless articles speculating on whether she wanted to have children. There were also unfair assumptions about why she didn’t have any, she said.
She said there were false narratives she was “selfish” and only cared about her career. Another baseless storyline was that her marriage failed because she would not get pregnant, she said.
Aniston filed for divorce from Hollywood leading man Brad Pitt in 2005 after more than four years of marriage. She cited irreconcilable differences in her split from the “Fight Club” star.
“God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child,” she said. “And the reason my husband left me, why we broke up and ended our marriage, was because I wouldn’t give him a kid. It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.”