Setting the record straight, in her own words, Jennifer Aniston penned a powerful essay on the Huffington Post about the unfair pressure the media has put upon her and her husband, Justin Theroux.
“Let me start by saying that addressing gossip is something I have never done. I don’t like to give energy to the business of lies, but I wanted to participate in a larger conversation that has already begun and needs to continue. Since I’m not on social media, I decided to put my thoughts here in writing,” she began.
“For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up. 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’.”
photo: Splash News
She goes on to say that she has been hounded by paparazzi day and night, and the invasion of their privacy has reached an alarming degree.
But setting aside this issue, she redirects the piece to a larger dilemma.
“I want to focus on the bigger picture of what this insane tabloid ritual represents to all of us,” she clarifies. “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 objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing.”
Next page: Why she thinks the media should stop turning body shaming into a sport
That she is subjected to such scrutiny and body shaming just goes to show how women are “measured against some warped standard of beauty”.
No doubt referring to the intense scrutiny into her recent weight gain—-which isn’t really an issue to begin with.
The actress/director believes that this dehumanising way of treating women is perpetuated by malicious views masquerading as “celebrity news”. This intense focus on physical appearance is something tabloids turn into a “sporting event of speculation”.
“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’?”
“We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete.”
photo: Getty
What contributes to this culture, she writes, is the amount of time and effort the press devotes to finding out if she’s pregnant or not. This media frenzy “points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they’re not married with children.”
“Here’s where I come out on this topic: we are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child,” she writes. “We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone. We don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own ‘happily ever after’ for ourselves.”
Read her entire essay here.
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