Jennifer Aniston opens up about fertility struggles for the first time

For years she was accused of choosing her career over starting a family. Now, for the first time ever, Jennifer Aniston has spoken about her fertility struggles and the “challenging road” she ventured down in an effort to have a baby.

Appearing on the cover of Allure magazine’s December issue, Aniston, now 53, reveals while she copped much scrutiny in the media for not starting a family, she was in fact “throwing everything at it”.

“I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it,” says the Friends star, who added “all the years and years and years of speculation” were incredibly tough on her. She told Allure she took the accusations she’d chosen her career over family “very personally”, especially when it came to commentary on her marriage breakup with Brad Pitt.

“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,” Aniston said of her marriage to Pitt from 2000 to 2005.

She went on to date actor Justin Theroux in 2011 and the pair were married from 2015 to 2018.

Of enduring the narrative that she was “selfish” and only concerned about her work, Aniston said, “God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child.”

Reflecting on her fertility journey in her late 30s and 40s, she told the magazine she wishes someone had advised her to freeze her eggs when she was younger.

“I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favour.’ You just don’t think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”

Despite never getting the family she’d hoped for, The Morning Show actress says she’s been left with “zero regrets”.

“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 told Allure.

Asked about her relationship status she quipped: “Never say never,” before adding she’d love to be in a relationship again.

“There are moments I want to just crawl up in a ball and say, ‘I need support.’ It would be wonderful to come home and fall into somebody’s arms and say, ‘That was a tough day.’”

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.