There are a few ridiculous celebrity rumours that just won’t go away – Are Jay Z and all his friends in the Illuminati? Did Kim Kardashian get butt implants? Was Ciara born a man? Is Jennifer Aniston pregnant for the 500th time?
While we all know none of those are true (probably), the tabloids continue to speculate. And it’s pissing Jennifer Aniston (and probably every other celebrity) off.
In a candid open letter published on the Huffington Post, Aniston set the record straight about her never-ending ‘pregnancy’. Spoiler alert: she’s not pregnant. What a surprise.
The actress has insisted she is not expecting a child and urged fans to stop speculating about her womb every time she has ‘a burger for lunch’.
This is what she wrote:
For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up.
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. 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).
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 actress has faced speculation about being pregnant for more years than we care to count, and more recently was forced to reveal she just ‘had a big lunch,’ after she was apparently spotted with a bigger than ‘normal’ stomach on holiday, The Sun reports.
She added:
If I am some kind of symbol to some people out there, then clearly I am an example of the lens through which we, as a society, view our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, female friends and colleagues.
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’s candid letter is actually more than just squashing rumours – she also touches on body standards set out by the media, saying: “The message that girls are not pretty unless they’re incredibly thin…is something we’re all willingly buying into. This conditioning is something girls then carry into womanhood.”
Her letter is not only a reminder that whether or not she’s pregnant is none of our fucking business, it also sends out a message that commenting on it only leads to demoralising body standards. Too right.
