Yesterday, Jennifer Aniston wrote a scathing essay in The Huffington Post expressing her disgust over the never-ending scrutiny into her uterus. Well, she didn’t say that but she did say she is “fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily under the guise of ‘journalism,’ the “’First Amendment’ and ‘celebrity news.'”
“Every day my husband and I are harassed by dozens of aggressive photographers staked outside our home who will go to shocking lengths to obtain any kind of photo, even if it means endangering us or the unlucky pedestrians who happen to be nearby,” the Mother’s Day star wrote. “But setting aside the public safety aspect, I want to focus on the bigger picture of what this insane tabloid ritual represents to all of us.”
She then went into how society determine a woman’s worth based on her decision to have a child or be married.
“Here’s where I come out on this topic: we are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child.”
While not dismissing the suggestion that she may actually want to become a mother someday, she wanted everyone to know that if she doesn’t, she would not like to be feel inadequate for not having given birth.
“I have grown tired of being part of this narrative. Yes, I may become a mother some day, and since I’m laying it all out there, if I ever do, I will be the first to let you know,” she wrote. “But I’m not in pursuit of motherhood because I feel incomplete in some way, as our celebrity news culture would lead us all to believe. I resent being made to feel ‘less than’ because my body is changing and/or I had a burger for lunch and was photographed from a weird angle and therefore deemed one of two things: ‘pregnant’ or ‘fat.’ Not to mention the painful awkwardness that comes with being congratulated by friends, coworkers and strangers alike on one’s fictional pregnancy (often a dozen times in a single day).”
Read her entire essay in The Huffington Post here.
Editor’s note: we blogged about the celebrity bump watch obsession here in 2009. Aniston was part of the round up of celeb women who were wrongly accused of being preggers. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
photo: Getty