Jennifer Aniston: The wisdom older women contribute is quite extraordinary

Jennifer Aniston has said the wisdom that older women contribute is “extraordinary”, as she heralded the “genuine progress” made in recognising their worth in the movie industry.

The Hollywood star also discussed how she had wanted to keep her struggle to conceive private, but felt forced to address the issue following repeated speculation in the media.

Aniston, who appears on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar UK’s November issue, told the magazine: “They didn’t know my story, or what I’d been going through over the past 20 years to try to pursue a family, because I don’t go out there and tell them my medical woes.

“That’s not anybody’s business. But there comes a point when you can’t not hear it – the narrative about how I won’t have a baby, won’t have a family, because I’m selfish, a workaholic. It does affect me – I’m just a human being.”

The Horrible Bosses star said that as she has got older, “the less I care about correcting a narrative, because it will happen eventually”.

“The news cycle is so fast, it just goes away,” she added.

“Of course, there are times when I feel that sense of justice – when something has been said that isn’t true and I need to right the wrong. And then I think, do I really? My family knows my truth, my friends know my truth.”

Aniston, who has won and been nominated for multiple awards for her current role in TV drama series The Morning Show, said she feels older women are appreciated more now than they used to be.

She told the magazine: “The societal idea of an expiration date just doesn’t exist anymore – it’s an old ideology.

“The wisdom older women have to contribute is quite extraordinary, and it’s one of the areas where we’ve seen genuine progress in the film world.”

Aniston also spoke about the “pure joy” of appearing in Friends, and said it “completely formed who I was”.

She said it was the “ultimate compliment” that people say they watch episodes of the long-running TV series to help their mental health.

“If they’re stressed about the news or the world, they’ll just sit down and watch a Friends episode,” she told the magazine.

And on the topic of her co-star Matthew Perry, who died in 2023, she said: “It’s heartbreaking that he had so many demons.

“But boy, for someone who had that much inner turmoil, he sure got to laugh a lot, and that was everything to him.”

The November issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from Thursday.