Jennifer Aniston has been in the public eye for decades now, so she's experienced her fair share of public scrutiny and media sensationalism. Back in July, the actress wrote a poignant op-ed for The Huffington Post about how fed up she is with the practicing of picking apart women in the headlines — through gossip, through body-shaming, and through pervasive sexism. Now in a new interview with Marie Claire, the December cover star opens up about what spurred her to write the revelatory piece in the first place.
The 47-year-old told the magazine that she has been shamed in nearly every aspect of her life. “My marital status has been shamed; my divorce status was shamed; my lack of a mate had been shamed; my nipples, have been shamed." Aniston continued, "It’s like, Why are we only looking at women through this particular lens of picking us apart? Why are we listening to it?" Though, it's her response to that last question that has freed her to shake off the haters and stand tall: She no longer listens. "I just thought: I have worked too hard in this life and this career to be whittled down to a sad, childless human.”
Well-said. Aniston is an accomplished actress with so many roles and so much success under her belt. She is healthy and happy; she works hard; she enjoys the company of her friends. And while she is now happily married to Justin Theroux — who makes her "feel completely seen, and adored, in no matter what state, she told Marie Claire — the woman she is has nothing to do with whether or not she has a husband or a child. It's lovely to hear Aniston say that she knows her worth — and that she refuses to be devalued into some archaic stereotype that a woman without children is pathetic, i.e. a "sad, childless human.” The truth is, she's anything but.