Jennifer Aniston wants to make a few things clear.
In a new, wide-ranging interview with pal Molly McNearney — Jimmy Kimmel‘s wife — for InStyle‘s September issue, Aniston set the record straight about her personal life.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Aniston, 49, told the magazine. “The misconceptions are ‘Jen can’t keep a man,’ and ‘Jen refuses to have a baby because she’s selfish and committed to her career.’ Or that I’m sad and heartbroken. First, with all due respect, I’m not heartbroken.”
She continued, “And second, those are reckless assumptions. No one knows what’s going on behind closed doors. No one considers how sensitive that might be for my partner and me. They don’t know what I’ve been through medically or emotionally. There is a pressure on women to be mothers, and if they are not, then they’re deemed damaged goods. Maybe my purpose on this planet isn’t to procreate. Maybe I have other things I’m supposed to do?”
The star has previously addressed baby-shamers, telling Marie Claire in 2016, “I have worked too hard in this life and this career to be whittled down to a sad, childless human.”
Aniston’s new interview with InStyle comes months after she split from husband Justin Theroux in February after more than two years of marriage and seven years together.
Months later, in June, another source told PEOPLE that Aniston “is very happy being single.” The second source added of Aniston, who has recently been filming a Netflix movie with Adam Sandler in Montreal, “She is focused on her own happiness.”
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In the InStyle interview, Aniston also discussed her encounters with sexism during her lengthy career.
“I’ve definitely had my fair share of sexism in the media,” Aniston said. “Women are picked apart and pitted against one another based on looks and clothing and superficial stuff. When a couple breaks up in Hollywood, it’s the woman who is scorned. The woman is left sad and alone. She’s the failure. F that. When was the last time you read about a divorced, childless man referred to as a spinster?”
When McNearney asked her if she has experienced harassment in the workplace, Aniston revealed, “I’ve definitely had some sloppy moves made on me by other actors, and I handled it by walking away. I’ve never had anyone in a position of power make me feel uncomfortable and leverage that over me.
In fact, she said, “In my personal experience I’ve been treated worse verbally and energetically by some women in this industry.”
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McNearney and Aniston have been friends for six years ahead of the cover interview. In March, the duo traveled to Tahiti, along with Kimmel and fellow Friends alum Courteney Cox, to celebrate McNearney’s birthday.
McNearney wrote about the first time they met: “She was immediately warm, like an old friend. She’s magnetic like that. No boundaries, no b——-, and a lot of laughing.”
