Jennifer Aniston is one of Hollywood's most beloved celebrities. Between her love life and her incredible career, it seems like she's always in the headlines. However, after her divorce from Brad Pitt in 2005, some of those headlines became a little desperate — which wasn't Jennifer's fault at all.
Since the two of them were seen as Hollywood royalty at the time, plenty of people felt saddened by the fact that Jennifer Aniston's future might not have kids in it. At least, kids fathered by Brad. Magazines have tried to "out" her as being pregnant several times, but she has yet to encounter that journey. For women who remain child-free, Jennifer is a wonderful role model. While she'd make an excellent mother, she's proof that you don't need to have kids to have a fulfilling life.
That said, Jennifer did hint that children are part of her overall future dream. And she said this with honesty. Jennifer was interviewed by her pal Sandra Bullock for Interview Magazine. Her answer to the question of "What is it that you haven’t done yet that you are looking forward to doing?" is hauntingly beautiful.
Sandra narrowed her question down, asking if Jennifer's ultimate goal was on a work level or spiritual level. "My gut reaction was to say all of the above," Jennifer replied. "It’s not so much what I see myself doing, but it’s more like a little screenshot in my brain, where I hear the ocean, I see the ocean, I hear laughter, I see kids running, I hear ice in a glass, I smell food being cooked. That’s the joyous snapshot in my head."
In other interviews, Jennifer has admitted that she's not afraid to find happiness in other ways. When asked about her marriages, she told Elle, "I don’t feel a void. I really don’t. My marriages [to Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux], they’ve been very successful, in [my] personal opinion. And when they came to an end, it was a choice that was made because we chose to be happy, and sometimes happiness didn’t exist within that arrangement anymore."
Which is probably why she remains friends with both of them — an attitude most couples should pick up on. To her, life shouldn't be a checklist of goals in age-appropriate order. "We live in a society that messages women: By this age, you should be married; by this age, you should have children," she said. "That’s a fairy tale. That’s the mold we’re slowly trying to break out of."
Jennifer seems happy with the choices she's made, and she's never felt resentful over not having kids. In fact, in that same interview, she admitted that children scared her a little bit. "Some people are just built to be wives and have babies," she told Elle. "I don’t know how naturally that comes to me." That interview took place in 2018, so it's interesting to see if her opinion has since changed.
In 2006, after breaking up with Brad Pitt, Jennifer talked to Vanity Fair about the issue — and whether or not their split may have happened because, at the time, she chose her career over her family. "A man divorcing would never be accused of choosing career over children,” she says. “That really p*ssed me off. I’ve never in my life said I didn’t want to have children. I did and I do and I will!"
"It’s such a shallow lens that people look through," Jennifer continued. "It’s the only place to point a finger at me as though it’s my damage — like it’s some sort of a scarlet letter on me that I haven’t yet procreated, or maybe won’t ever procreate." She wasn't wrong — in the years that followed since that interview, it still remained a hot topic.
Why did people care so much about whether or not Jennifer Aniston ever had kids? She seems happy, successful, and fulfilled without. Yet again, that's why her response to Sandra seemed so surprising. While people can have kids at any age (especially if they choose fostering or adoption), Jennifer is about to turn 51 — so you'd assume she, herself, might know her feelings by now.
Jennifer's interview with Sandra, all in all, was a lot of fun. The two admitted one thing they have in common — they both dated Tate Donovan at one point. "We both partook of Tate," Jennifer said. "Who was a very patient human being, given that he dated us both," Sandra added.
When Sandra asked Jennifer why they never met sooner, her response was similar to her philosophy as a whole. "I think everything happens in its own time, and I think for whatever reason, life had to happen in both of our worlds the way it did," Jennifer said. That, right there, might sum up her views. If a kid happens, it'll be part of her journey. It'll take place when she's ready for it.
If she does choose adoption at some point, Sandra is a wonderful contact to have. The actress has two children, Louis and Laila. Both are adopted, even though Sandra doesn't like the term. "Let’s all just refer to these kids as ‘our kids,’” she said to InStyle, per HuffPost. “Don’t say ‘my adopted child.’ No one calls their kid their ‘IVF child’ or their ‘oh, sh*t, I went to a bar and got knocked-up child.’ Let just say, ‘our children.’"
In her interview with Jennifer, Sandra even opened up about motherhood. "I look at everyone who is trying to raise kids, and I go, 'How are we supposed to raise children outside of a bubble? And show them the difference between right and wrong, and what kindness looks like, when it’s really hard to find it with all the noise on a screen?' Screens are everywhere," she commented.
Jennifer agreed with the comment, stating that it doesn't matter how much you try to protect your kids these days, especially with so much going on in the news. "You can protect your children as much as possible, but they’re eventually going to become an 18-year old and go out in the world and they’re going to see all of it," she said. That statement happened right before the one regarding her future vision.
There's one thing that seems obvious about Jennifer Aniston's future. No matter what happens, she seems to live without regrets. She feels emotions and has a certain idea of where she wants her life to go, but she seems to take everything day by day — and for someone in Hollywood, that's a very important stance to take.
Kids may or may not be part of Jennifer's future. But that's for her to decide. She has the right to change her mind. Or perhaps she just envisioned being close with the kids of her friends — and being a positive role model without necessarily being a mom. She's a great person to look up to, and Hollywood seems to agree that she's a wonderful person off-screen, as well.
