Jennifer Aniston gets to determine her own “happily ever after” — tabloids and societal pressure be damned. The “Friends” actress penned a candid essay for The Huffington Post, where she addressed the relentless scrutiny she’s faced regarding her physical appearance, marital status, and womb.
“I don’t like to give energy to the business of lies, but I wanted to participate in a larger conversation that has already begun and needs to continue,” Aniston wrote. As one of the biggest stars worldwide, Aniston’s contribution to the conversation was bound to make headlines. And she did not hold back. Instead, she used her public platform to make her case loudly and clearly: the media treats women in the spotlight like garbage and perpetuates both unrealistic beauty standards and constricting, retrograde narratives about what constitutes as a successful woman.
“For the record, I am not pregnant,” Aniston stated. “What I am is fed up. I’m fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily under the guise of ‘journalism,’ the ‘First Amendment,’ and ‘celebrity news.’”
She observed, “The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing. The way I am portrayed by the media is simply a reflection of how we see and portray women in general, measured against some warped standard of beauty.” Aniston then offered, “Sometimes cultural standards just need a different perspective so we can see them for what they really are — a collective acceptance… a subconscious agreement.” And we need to take responsibility for what we agree to. As Aniston noted, “We are in charge of our agreement. Little girls everywhere are absorbing our agreement, passive or otherwise.”
The messages that agreement sends include “that girls are not pretty unless they’re incredibly thin, that they’re not worthy of our attention unless they look like a supermodel or an actress on the cover of a magazine is something we’re all willingly buying into.” And “this conditioning is something girls then carry into womanhood.”
The “Cake” star wrote, “We use celebrity ‘news’ to perpetuate this dehumanizing view of females, focused solely on one’s physical appearance, which tabloids turn into a sporting event of speculation. Is she pregnant? Is she eating too much? Has she let herself go? Is her marriage on the rocks because the camera detects some physical ‘imperfection’?”
The cheer-worthy essay didn’t stop there. The Emmy winner shared, “This past month in particular has illuminated for me how much we define a woman’s value based on her marital and maternal status. The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for the bajillionth time… but who’s counting) points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they’re not married with children.” Jennifer Aniston has been made the poster girl for this sexist, antiquated mentality. No matter what she accomplishes in her career, and no matter how many times she says she’s happy in her personal life, she’s still portrayed as incomplete in the media.
As Aniston concluded, “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.” She encouraged, “Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples. Let’s make that decision consciously, outside of the tabloid noise. We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own ‘happily ever after’ for ourselves.”
The essay is a brilliant, well-deserved “fuck you” to those who have tried to project onto her — to tell her what a woman could and should be. And it’s a rallying cry urging others to say “Enough. We won’t internalize this bullshit, and we won’t support companies that profit from making women feel inadequate.”
We can’t recall when — or if — Aniston has been so explicit in naming and tackling sexism. This feels like a big moment in Hollywood, not unlike when Jennifer Lawrence spoke about equal pay. While we’re sorry for the personal conditions — including being harassed by paparazzi — Aniston is facing that led to penning this letter, we’re certainly glad that she took the opportunity to name the bigger, wide-reaching problems at play. Women are defined by their reproduction choices, whereas men are not. No one should be.
Aniston’s essay is well worth reading in full. Head over to The Huffington Post to check it out.
