Who has sold more tabloid magazines over the last fifteen years than
But after constantly being scrutinized post-lunch for a baby belly, with headlines declaring she's 'finally pregnant!' – she's had it.
The actress penned an essay for the Huffington Post on Tuesday, breaking her longtime stance of ignoring gossip chatter.
"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," she wrote.
And just in case you were wondering, "for the record, I am not pregnant," she says. "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.”
She starts by pointing out the public safety issues surrounding the constant presence of paparazzi following her and husband
"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," she says. "The message that girls are not pretty unless they’re incredibly thin, that they’re not worthy of our attention unless they look like a supermodel or an actress on the cover of a magazine is something we’re all willingly buying into."
This summer Aniston pregnancy rumors reached a new high , with tabloids volleying between showcasing a fictitious bump on vacation to claiming she's suddenly too thin (she was wearing boyfriend jeans).
In short, she can't win.
"This past month in particular has illuminated for me how much we define a woman’s value based on her marital and maternal status," says Aniston, citing more pressing stories like mass shootings, Supreme Court decisions and the upcoming election. "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," she writes.
Here's Aniston's truth, in her own words.
"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."
For those wondering, she adds, "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.”
Read her full essay here.
