Jennifer Aniston reveals secret IVF attempts, fertility struggles

She’s been the subject of pregnancy rumours for decades – now the Friends star has opened up for the first time about her attempts to become a mum.

Jennifer Aniston is speaking about her fertility struggles and IVF attempts for the first time.

The Friends alum described the “challenging road” in her Allure December 2022 cover story published on Wednesday, saying she experienced “hard s**t” while trying to conceive.

“If it wasn’t for going through that, I would’ve never become who I was meant to be. That’s why I have such gratitude for all those s**tty things,” she said, clarifying that she was “trying to get pregnant” several years ago.

During “all the years of [media] speculation,” Aniston, 53, was “going through IVF [and] drinking Chinese teas.”

She recalled, “I was throwing everything at it. I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favour.’ You just don’t think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”

Stream more entertainment news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer available for a limited time only >

Aniston attempted IVF several years ago. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The Morning Show star has “zero regrets” and now “actually feel[s] a little relief.”

She explained, “There is no more, ‘Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.’ I don’t have to think about that anymore.”

Sharing her story feels “like coming out of hibernation,” Aniston went on to tell the magazine.

“I’ve spent so many years protecting my story about IVF,” she said. “I’m so protective of these parts because I feel like there’s so little that I get to keep to myself. … I don’t have anything to hide.”

The actress, who was married to Brad Pitt from 2000 to 2005 and Justin Theroux from 2015 to 2017, has found her family plans at the brunt of much speculation over the years.

Pitt and Aniston were married from 2000-2005. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Theroux and Aniston split in 2017 after two years of marriage. Picture: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Aniston clapped back at the “narrative” that she never wanted children and was a “selfish” partner whose husband left her because she “wouldn’t give him a kid.”

She said, “God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child. … It was absolute lies.”

While the Emmy winner has never publicly vocalised her fertility struggles, she did write a Huffington Post op-ed in July 2016 to clarify that “women do a lot of incredible things other than procreate.”

Aniston wrote: “For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up.

“The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing,” she added at the time. “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.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.