Jennifer Aniston has expressed her shock and disbelief over the possibility of Senator J.D. Vance becoming the next Vice President of the United States.
The Friends star was particularly disturbed by Vance’s resurfaced 2021 comments, where he described childless women like Vice President Kamala Harris as ‘miserable cat ladies.’
On Wednesday, July 24, Aniston, 55, took to Instagram to slam the politician for his comments.
She wrote: ‘I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States.’
‘All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day,’ she continued, referencing her own struggles with IVF.
‘I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option,’ Aniston continued, ‘because you are trying to take that away from her, too.’
Aniston’s post featured a screenshot of a tweet that brought Vance’s July 2021 interview with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson back into the spotlight.
In the interview, the Ohio Republican criticized Democratic U.S. leadership, saying it was dominated by ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.’
He specifically named Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
He continues in the clip: ‘It’s just a basic fact- you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC – the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?’
Harris is a stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff’s two children, Cole, 29, and Ella, 25. Vance and his wife Usha have three children, Ewan, 6, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.
Vance’s remarks have become even more contentious in light of recently being named as former President Donald Trump’s running mate for the 2024 presidential election, after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, paving the way for Harris to run for the presidency.
Aniston’s reaction is almost certainly rooted in her well-known personal experiences with fertility issues.
In an interview with Allure in November 2022, she discussed the pain caused by years of speculation about her potential pregnancies.
‘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. I would have given anything if someone had said to me, “Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.” You just don’t think it.’
Although she didn’t go into detail about her IVF journey, she revealed, ‘Here I am today. The ship has sailed… I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, “Can I?” I don’t have to think about that anymore.’
In a 2016 Huffington Post essay, Aniston tackled the false pregnancy reports head-on, criticizing the societal pressures placed on women.
She wrote: ‘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.’
The Morning Show actress continued: ‘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.’
Aniston’s reaction comes amid increased scrutiny into Vance’s stances on women’s health issues.
Notably, Vance is not only anti-abortion (even in cases of rape and incest) but was one of only 28 members of Congress who opposed a new rule that would limit law enforcement’s access to women’s medical records. The rule was an attempt to limit the possibility of women being prosecuted for abortions and other reproductive health measures.
Even more extreme was his promotion of Viktor Orban’s pro-natalist policies in Hungary, which were intended to encourage couples to have more children.
As the US Presidential election grows more and more wild, stars like Jennifer Aniston are becoming more and more vocal about their political stances.