Jennifer Aniston ‘I'm no VICTIM'

THE STAR OPENS UP ABOUT MOTHERHOOD, HER MOTHER AND BREAKING DOWN

- Jennie Noonan

After almost three decades in the spotlight, Jennifer Aniston has managed to compartmentalise how she handles her overly scrutinised personal life. “Self-awareness is key. I’ve really gotten a lot out of therapy,” the actress told WHO’s sister publication People magazine in June. “Being a public person, there’s a lot of amazing things that come with that. But there’s also a lot of tough stuff.”

Most challenging of all, she revealed in a December cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, has been speculation about her choices surrounding career and family. “I used to take it all very personally – the pregnancy rumours, and the whole, ‘Oh, she chose career over kids’ assumption,’” said the star. “It’s like, ‘You have no clue what’s going on 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.”

In 2006 after her split from Brad Pitt, who went on to raise six kids with wife Angelina Jolie, Aniston, then 36, told Vanity Fair she “always wanted to have children”, saying at the time, “I did, and I do, and I will!” A decade later, she addressed the issue again in a heartfelt – and scathing – essay for the Huffington Post website.