The Jennifer Aniston Interview

I saw Jennifer Aniston trending on Twitter, but I was on there for work, so I didn’t know why until I saw The Road Less Travelled’s post. Jennifer talked about family building — her IVF attempts, the hurtful headlines, the relief that it’s no longer a possibility.

Back then — and for years — there were headlines swirling through pop culture that Aniston wouldn’t have kids. That she wasn’t interested, or she just wanted to be a star, or whatever idea was selling that week.

Adding to the personal pain of what she went through was the “narrative that I was just selfish,” she says.

So the interview itself was mind-blowing, but it’s also the journalist’s line: “I almost want to apologize to Aniston for being a journalist. This doesn’t feel like any of my business.”

On the one hand, having a conversation with a subject and introducing their story is her business. That is literally her business. But at the same time, when you reflect on how many people didn’t contact Aniston, didn’t actually speak to her, but wrote story after story about how she’s pregnant (with twins!) or refuses to be pregnant, and this journalist senses how much it costs emotionally to introduce this subject into the conversation. Why the journalist feels that quietness about a topic that Jen admits she has been “protecting [her] story about IVF.”

I really loved that Jen put it out there. She owes us nothing, but I’m grateful she trusts the world with her story.