Jennifer Aniston is opening up about why she never adopted children.
Aniston, 56, has previously spoken publicly about her efforts to have kids, but on a Wondery+ early access episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, Aniston discusses what it’s like to be content with not having children at this stage of her life.
“It’s so peaceful. But I will say there’s a point where it’s like out of my control,” the Morning Show star said. “There’s literally nothing I can do about it.”
She continued, “When people say, ‘But you can adopt,’ I don’t want to adopt,” she continued. “I want my own DNA in a little person. That’s the only way, selfish or not, whatever that is, I wanted it.”
However, she admits that there’s been people she’s met and thought they “would have made some good kids” but the idea would “pass within three seconds.”
In 2022, the actress revealed to Allure magazine that she was trying to have kids in her 30s and 40s, but it was difficult. “I was trying to get pregnant. It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,” she explained. “All the years and years and years of speculation. … It was really hard.”
She added that she looked at other options, too. “I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it. I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.’ You just don’t think it,” Aniston said. “So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”
The Friends alum also spoke about how the tabloids implying her personal timeline for starting a family wasn’t true. “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,” she said. “It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.”
Aniston’s episode of the Armchair Expert podcast officially drops on Oct. 20.
