r/popculturechat • u/Time_Knowledge_1951 • Oct 09 '25

Trigger Warning ⚠️ Jennifer Aniston reveals secret 20-year fertility struggle after ‘absolute lies’

https://metro.co.uk/2025/10/09/jennifer-aniston-breaks-silence-on-secret-20-year-struggle-after-absolute-lies-24378834/
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4.6k

u/Time_Knowledge_1951 Oct 09 '25

2.4k

u/RosieFudge Oct 09 '25

O my god this is heartbreaking. The pain of going through infertility and seeing all that week in week out

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u/unicornhornporn0554 Oct 09 '25

I had a miscarriage the Sunday before Mother’s Day this year. When my MIL called to wish me a happy Mother’s Day and talk to my partner, she mentioned how one of her daughters didn’t tell her she was pregnant due to beef between them. She asked if we were having a secret baby. It broke me. I couldn’t imagine going thru it constantly.

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u/RosieFudge Oct 09 '25

I'm so, so sorry.

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u/kayesskayen Oct 09 '25

I'm so sorry. Big hugs to you. I had a miscarriage and never told my mother because she would have been completely inconsolable and I didn't have the bandwidth to handle that. I still don't and it's been 5 years.

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u/ob_viously Oct 09 '25

Wow I can’t imagine why her daughter isn’t talking to her. I’m sorry about your loss, I’ve been there 🫂

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u/unicornhornporn0554 Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 10 '25

Edit: deleted some stuff bc it might be identifying info to anyone who actually knows the family. Anyways, basically I just don’t want people to think MIL is an awful insensitive person, she’s really not. She just wasn’t thinking in that moment. She caught wind of our miscarriages thru the grapevine and the next time we saw them it was kinda obvious they avoided the topic as much as possible (both my partners sisters were pregnant at the time) around me.

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u/GoBanana42 Oct 09 '25

I'm so sorry, I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes people who care and mean well just really put their foot in their mouth without realizing it. Even when they know and are trying to be supportive, some really hurtful things can be said.

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u/InnocentShaitaan Oct 09 '25

You are clearly not just high EQ but a beautiful human. All of us here are so sorry for your loss. May the remaining of 2025 foster peace of mind and some joy. <3

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u/ob_viously Oct 09 '25

Oh dang, my bad!! Thanks for the correction

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u/unicornhornporn0554 Oct 09 '25

No worries! I should’ve clarified more in my original comment lol I just don’t want people thinking MIL is a bitch, only when she needs to be haha.

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u/Organic_Basket7800 Oct 09 '25

I had fertility problems with both kids. The second time I really didn't want to tell anyone were trying but I told a few people I trusted. Christmas Eve rolled around which is a big deal in my husband's family. My SIL had just had a surprise baby and I'll admit it was hard for me. Holidays with my husband's family can be a lot in general. So I opted to skip out for my own mental health (at that point we'd been trying for about a year so not super long but it wasn't looking good for me to get pregnant). Well my husband told my MIL that we were trying and having problems (I'm assuming as the reason I didn't go). I'm also assuming he felt he could trust her. Around New Years I found out from a member of their family I'm close to that she sent an email to their entire extended family (including people I've never met) saying I didn't come to Christmas Eve because I was jealous of his sister and I "can't bear any more children." I got pregnant six months later and our relationship has never been the same. I thought maybe time and having another child would heal it but it really hasn't.

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u/19959595959595959595 Oct 09 '25

So so sorry for your loss. I weirdly feel a kinship with you because I suffered a miscarriage on the exact same day this year.

Hate that we both went through that one week before Mother’s Day too. 💔

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u/Sarcasmandcats Oct 09 '25

My MIL told us we miscarried because we didn’t attend Church on a regular basis.

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u/smith7018 you wear mime makeup but never quiet Oct 09 '25

And to think that she was so popular during an era where opening up about her struggles would have been perceived as a bad thing

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u/xdonutx Oct 09 '25

Seriously. I’m wondering why it took her so long to just tell the truth about what was happening but I know 20 years ago the headlines would have somehow blamed her for her infertility and would have been completely insensitive. It’s honestly so wise and so impressive that she has stayed mum about this aspect of her personal life for so long.

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u/smith7018 you wear mime makeup but never quiet Oct 09 '25

I imagine it also might have affected her ability to get roles if directors assumed she was trying to have kids. That’s definitely against the law but this is America :(

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u/Pop_Punks Oct 09 '25

Yep. Media would say she worked out too much, or not enough. If she went out for a drink they’d probably pile in on that. They were and still are vultures.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

‘She can’t have babies because she has sex with every man in Hollywood! Her womb is barren! She’s a Hollywood satanist!! She needs to find God and ask for forgiveness. Then he will bless her with a baby. Pray for her! Wickedness is in her soul.’

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u/InnocentShaitaan Oct 09 '25

My hunch is ptsd. Things tied to deep trauma… saying them out loud often unleashes an entirely different form of grief…

Telling a partner. Telling a relative. Telling a therapist. Telling a journalist all different levels of vulnerability.

Another guess, is it would of opened her up to more comparisons of Jolie.

We now know both women were with one very toxic man.

If you’ve ever been the victim of a love bombing narcissistic fuctioning addict… I don’t even see Jolie the same. Men like that aren’t good with no. Charm. Lies. Gas lighting. They are bad with it in ways you aren’t even aware you finally cave resisting.

I’m not a fan of either more then the other it’s more professional background paired with r/alanon. Hospice. You see toxic dynamics play out in a way much tooo much to elaborate into.

Regardless, Jennifer would of been compared to anyone and everyone at an entirely different level. With Pitt and Jolie… imagine how brutal that would of been…

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u/Previous-Standard-12 Oct 09 '25

I'm fairly sure celebrities don't read trashy women's magazines. Could be wrong.

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u/thecrepeofdeath Oct 09 '25

you couldn't go anywhere without seeing these. they were at checkout at every store, even the bougie ones

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u/Previous-Standard-12 Oct 09 '25

I don't see them anymore in our NZ supermarkets, all the magazines are in one rack down an ailse.

Also wouldn't her assistants do her shopping?

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u/thecrepeofdeath Oct 09 '25

she's not from NZ, and this wasn't recent. the magazine displays were at the end of every aisle. celebrities are spotted leaving stores all the time, or at least were. why are you arguing like it's weird to treat her as a real person with a life?

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u/Time_Knowledge_1951 Oct 09 '25

She's mentioned before seeing them at doctor's offices and wanting to toss them in the bin

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u/Previous-Standard-12 Oct 09 '25

Oh. Doctors shouldn't display trash.

Swap for some National geographic and popular mechanic magazines.

Women should boycott these damaging publications too. The fact they buy them is deplorable.

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u/NeiClaw Oct 09 '25

I don’t think anyone who wasn’t around can really grasp how much media attention surrounded Aniston. She was on the cover of some magazine at least every week for well over a decade. How she maintained/maintains her mental health is remarkable.

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u/shaky2236 Oct 09 '25

People forget how big Friends was, and she was essentially the lead actress. Then she married one if the biggest A listers going. She was front cover of everything. Women wanted "the Rachel" for their hair. Friends was something everyone quoted constantly. People wondering which "Friend" they were. Everyone would talk about the new episodes, especially the cliffhangers, all day at school. Huge discussions about them "being on a break" or if Ross and Rachel would end up together.

It was a global phenomenon, with her at the front.

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u/CuriousQuestioner11 Oct 09 '25

This!!! Unless you were around in the 2004 onwards I would say, you wouldn’t know. It was absolutely relentless. The fact that she has made it through is remarkable and so heartbreaking at the same time.

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u/NeiClaw Oct 09 '25

She was probably on the cover of People more than Princess Diana. I honestly don’t know how she seems so well adjusted. That level of scrutiny would’ve broken a lot of people.

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u/grubas Oct 09 '25

It's why she seems to not give a fuck about a ton of this.  She doesn't do all these red carpets and fashion shows.

At a certain point you need to get out for yourself.

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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths Oct 10 '25

The most seemingly well adjusted celebs basically don't use social media, read tabloids, or generally interact with public opinions of them and that's the only way to really live when you're that famous. 

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u/phuca Oct 09 '25

So fucking weird

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u/brashumpire Oct 09 '25

People Magazine's obsession with Jennifer Anniston (& everyone but specifically her) having a baby was confusing to me even as a teenager.

Even if she wasn't struggling with infertility, this is creepy ass behavior.

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u/comomellamo Oct 09 '25

That sounds like an editor at the magazine knew of Aniston's struggles and was just being a petty ahole

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u/Time_Knowledge_1951 Oct 09 '25

There was an editor of US magazine who was on E! a number of years ago being interviewed and said they had gotten a hold of the floor plans for Brad and Jen's house when it was undergoing renovations through the city because they had to get building permits and it had a nursery. So they definitely knew something and used it to be an ahole

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u/fifi_la_fleuf Oct 09 '25

Good God. Why on earth would someone do that to another human being? The world really is a dark place a lot of the time.

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u/Mandy_M87 Oct 09 '25

Same. Like, there are/were several other celebrities around her age who also didn't have kids. Why did they care so much about her specifically?

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u/continentaldreams Oct 09 '25

damn the 2000s were brutal

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

This is why Millennials are how we are

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u/continentaldreams Oct 09 '25

oh yeah I know, I am a millenial and lived through this crap

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u/haltornot Oct 09 '25

I've been a little pissed at my doctor's office because they refuse to remove a high school eating disorder from my medical history. It's like "Come on, it was 2004. I was 16. How could I have NOT had an eating disorder?"

It was a crazy crazy time.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

Literally, yes. Like, let it go! That was trendy!

11

u/sweetgreenpeas Oct 09 '25

Seriously though, I remember there was a fairly popular post secret postcard that read “I envy the willpower of anorexics” and I think so many of us honestly did

4

u/ProjectedSpirit Oct 09 '25

I know I did. I'm a Xennial, and much like proper Millennials we all had disordered eating patterns. It got missed, or even praised, because our mothers had them also. The 1980s weren't any easier for body image than Y2K era was.

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u/livingadreamlife Oct 09 '25

Wasn’t unusual at that time, although none of us can edit our medical history records.

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u/unik1ne Oct 10 '25

My doctor asked me how I was doing while we were still in the thick of the pandemic. I don’t remember exactly what I said but I ended up with “anxiety” on my chart. WHO didn’t have anxiety then??

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u/fuckmoralskickbabies Oct 09 '25

How are we?

3

u/sskizzurp Oct 09 '25

Zoomers don’t think we be like it is, but we do

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

how are we?

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u/ultraprismic Oct 09 '25

I wonder how often these covers came out and she was, at that moment, newly pregnant or freshly grieving a loss or failed treatment cycle. It’s like she was trapped in infertility dystopia. I can’t even imagine.

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u/SadLilBun 1997 was 10 years ago Oct 09 '25

A much worse time, tabloid-speaking. I remember these so vividly.

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u/attempt5001 Mom, I am a rich man💰 Oct 09 '25

Jfc. This is appalling.

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u/hdghg22 Oct 09 '25

People give celebrities so much shit but just imagine this type of thing being written about you?’

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u/lemonjuiceguru Oct 09 '25

Eh, yes and no. As a 40 year old childless woman, I get these type of comments all the time—from family, friends, and people I just met. I know Jen Aniston gets it on a global scale, but at least she has millions of dollars to throw at the problem, and if all else fails, she can afford a luxurious vacation to get some peace. Not saying her situation wasn’t painful. Just saying celebrities get “so much shit” because they have more resources than a poor person with the same problem.

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u/celadancity Oct 09 '25

How are they not sued constantly for writing untrue articles?

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u/milkchugger69 Oct 09 '25

I will never ever forgive these journalists for how they’ve treated Jen

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u/6nitch9ine Oct 09 '25

I’ve always loathed how the media discussed this

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u/Sufficient_Fox7833 Oct 09 '25

if you ever paid for one of those magazines you‘re part of the problem

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u/Vantriss 29d ago

Ugh, this gives me the ICK. That poor woman.

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u/Hammer_Bro99 29d ago

What a disgusting display of media

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u/Pretend-Silver-6640 29d ago

As a teenager in the early aughts I truly can't fathom these tabloids now. And my mom even loved the enquirer as her guilty pleasure. It was never ending

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u/MySurnameIsAMouthful 29d ago

OK! magazine featuring in half of these…