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Jennifer Aniston shares 'challenging road' with IVF: 'I was throwing everything at it'

The actor opens up about her fertility journey and those constant pregnancy rumors.

Jennifer Aniston has been dodging pregnancy rumors with grace for several decades, and she's playfully brushed off the public pressure to become a mother on many occasions.

But behind the scenes, the star secretly endured a "challenging road" with IVF and she just opened up about her journey for the first time.

In a raw new interview with Allure, the 53-year-old reveals that she tried to start a family several years ago, but life had other plans for her.

“I was trying to get pregnant. It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,” she said in the latest issue of Allure.

Any woman who's undergone IVF fertility treatments knows how challenging the process can be. For Aniston, there was the added pressure of knowing that paparazzi were constantly on the lookout for a potential baby bump.

“All the years and years and years of speculation... It was really hard. I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it," she said.

Looking back on the experience, Aniston expressed disappointment that it didn't turn out the way she had hoped.

"I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.’ You just don’t think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed,” she said.

Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston covers the December 2022 issue of Allure.Zoey Grossman / Allure

The actor didn't offer up an exact age when she started IVF treatments, but did say that enough time has passed to give her peace.

“I have zero regrets,” she said. “I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, ‘Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.’ I don’t have to think about that anymore.”

Of course, Aniston has endured intense speculation over the years and even spoke to The Hollywood Reporter last year about the impact all those pregnancy rumors had on her. 

While chatting with Allure, the star said the pregnancy rumors themselves weren’t always what upset her the most. Rather, the suggestion that she was “selfish” for focusing on her career and not having kids really got under her skin.

“(People thought) I just cared about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child. And the reason my husband left me, why we broke up and ended our marriage, was because I wouldn’t give him a kid. It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point,” she said.

Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston has "zero regrets."Zoey Grossman / Allure

In 2016, Aniston penned an op-ed for The Huffington Post to clap back at the media's fixation on her fertility.

“For the record, I am not pregnant,” she wrote at the time. “What I am is fed up.”

In her Allure interview, the star explained what compelled her to write the op-ed.

“I was like, ‘I’ve just got to write this because it’s so maddening and I’m not superhuman to the point where I can’t let it penetrate and hurt,’” she said.

Aniston, who was married to Brad Pitt from 2000 to 2005 and Justin Theroux from 2015 to 2017, also addressed whether or not she will ever tie the knot again.

“Never say never, but I don’t have any interest,” she said. “I’d love a relationship. Who knows? There are moments I want to just crawl up in a ball and say, ‘I need support.’ It would be wonderful to come home and fall into somebody’s arms and say, ‘That was a tough day.’”