Sitting down with Allure, Jen revealed that she spent years “trying to get pregnant,” and described it as a “challenging” period of her life.
“I would say my late 30s, 40s, I’d gone through really hard shit, and if it wasn’t for going through that, I would’ve never become who I was meant to be,” she said, noting that she tried “everything” to get pregnant, including IVF and “drinking Chinese teas.”
“It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,” she went on, before later adding, “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. The ship has sailed.”
Jen went on to note that her private fertility struggle was made all the more difficult due to the “years and years” of media speculation around why she didn’t have children — something that began almost two decades ago, after she and Brad Pitt got divorced in 2005.
Although Jen and Brad gave no explicit reason as to why they split after five years of marriage, the Friends actor was publicly vilified after rumors surfaced claiming that they’d parted ways because she’d “refused” to have children with him.
Jen repeatedly attempted to shut down this sexist narrative numerous times over the years. In fact, after a decade of cruel speculation, she penned an essay for HuffPost in 2016 directly slamming the tabloids perpetuating the idea that women are “incomplete” or “unhappy” if they’re “not married with children.”
“For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up,” she wrote. “Here’s where I come out on this topic: We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone.”
After Jen opened up about her struggles with fertility last year, she was met with heaps of support from internet users worldwide, many of whom suggested that she deserved an apology from the tabloids who’d relentlessly fueled the narrative that she’d actively chosen not to have kids.
And much like her fans, Jen has received heaps of support from her nearest and dearest over the years — including her close friend Adam Sandler.
For those who don’t know, Jen and Adam go way back. After meeting in their early 20s, the pair went on to form a wholesome friendship that has truly withstood the test of time.
And during a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, Jen revealed that Adam and his wife, Jackie Sandler, send her a bouquet of flowers every single Mother’s Day in order to show their love and support.
Going on to discuss her romantic life with WSJ, Jen — who got divorced from Justin Theroux in 2018 — admitted that she feels as though her childhood massively impacted the way she navigates relationships.
“It was always a little bit difficult for me in relationships, I think, because I really was kind of alone. I don’t know. My parents, watching my family’s relationship, didn’t make me kind of go, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do that,’” she shared.
“I didn’t like the idea of sacrificing who you were or what you needed, so I didn’t really know how to do that. So it was almost easier to just be kind of solo. So I didn’t have any real training in that give-and-take,” she went on.
Adding that she finds being in a relationship “a challenge,” Jen said, “I’m really good at every other job I have, and that’s sort of the one area that’s a little…” before trailing off.
You can read Jennifer’s full interview with WSJ here.
