When Jennifer Aniston lashed out at those slamming her for not embracing motherhood

Jennifer Aniston has been quite vocal about how she feels having kids is a frightening idea. Although, there was a time when the actress wanted to start a family with ex-husband Brad Pitt, the idea started to appear a little daunting to her with time.

Jen has since then been been empowering women  who do not want to have kids out of their own choice and encourging the fact that there is nothing wrong with that. 

After her split with Brad, Jen had said she wanted to have babies on multiple occasion, but that somehow changed. 

In an interview with Vogue, the actress announced, "I've said it so many times: I'm going to have children. I just know it."

Before that, in 2006, she reacted to claims that she didn't want a family during an interaction with Vanity Fair. "A man divorcing would never be accused of choosing career over children. That really pissed me off. I’ve never in my life said I didn’t want to have children. I did and I do and I will! The women that inspire me are the ones who have careers and children; why would I want to limit myself? I’ve always wanted to have children, and I would never give up that experience for a career. I want to have it all.”

However, when her plans changed, Jen during  an interview with Elle, confessed that the idea of having children was "kind of frightening." 

She said, "We live in a society that messages women: By this age, you should be married; by this age, you should have children. That’s a fairy tale. That’s the mold we’re slowly trying to break out of," before adding the idea of having children is “quite honestly, kind of frightening.”

"Some people are just built to be wives and have babies. I don’t know how naturally that comes to me," she added. "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."

In an interview to InStyle, Jen lashed out at those shaming her for not embracing motherhood. "The misconceptions are “Jen can’t keep a man,” and “Jen refuses to have a baby because she’s selfish and committed to her career.” Or that I’m sad and heartbroken," she explained. "There is a pressure on women to be mothers, and if they are not, then they’re deemed damaged goods. Maybe my purpose on this planet isn’t to procreate. Maybe I have other things I’m supposed to do?" Jennifer said in 2018.