Jennifer Aniston speaks out on pregnancy rumors, body shaming

MANILA, Philippines – Jennifer Aniston isn’t on social media, but she’s found a different way to give tabloids and scrutinizing fans a piece of her mind.

In an essay published on the Huffington Post on July 12, the actress spoke up about the rumors of her being pregnant and her experiences with the media and tabloids over the years.

“For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up,” Jennifer started her essay. “I’m fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily under the guise of ‘journalism,’ the ‘First Amendment’ and ‘celebrity news.'”

Jennifer’s essay comes weeks after reports said that she was pregnant, based on photos of her at the beach in a bikini. Prior to the incident, the actress has been the subject of many rumors about her love life over the years.

After saying that many journalists have put herself, her husband Justin Theroux, and the public in danger just to get a photo, she went on to discuss some of her concerns about tabloids and what they say about our culture and society.

Jennifer wrote: “The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing. 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.

“Sometimes cultural standards just need a different perspective so we can see them for what they really are – a collective acceptance… a subconscious agreement. We are in charge of our agreement. Little girls everywhere are absorbing our agreement, passive or otherwise.”

She continued by saying that celebrity news “dehumanizes” how people look at women when it’s primarily focused on physical appearance.

Tabloid culture, she said, has made her see how much of a woman’s worth depends on her marital status or having children: “The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for the bajillionth time… but who’s counting) points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they’re not married with children.”

There are many other events and issues, she said, that journalists could focus on instead of her personal life.

“Here’s where I come out on this topic: we are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone. Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples. Let’s make that decision consciously, outside of the tabloid noise. We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own ‘happily ever after’ for ourselves,” she wrote.

If she is pregnant, Jennifer said she’ll let the public know and it won’t be because she feels incomplete.

“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).”

Jennifer ended her essay with a call to change: “We get to decide how much we buy into what’s being served up, and maybe some day the tabloids will be forced to see the world through a different, more humanized lens because consumers have just stopped buying the bullsh-t.” – Rappler.com