Originally appeared on E! Online
Jennifer Aniston is speaking out on Senator JD Vance's comments.
After a clip of the Republican vice presidential nominee arguing "childless cat ladies" should have "no direct stake" in political decision-making went viral, the "Friends" alum clapped back at his comments with an emotional message referencing her own IVF journey and fertility struggles.
"All I can say is," Aniston wrote in a July 24 Instagram Story, "Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day."
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The 55-year-old went on to say she also hoped his daughter would not need to turn to fertility treatments like in-vitro fertilization (IVF) "as a second option," since, as she put it, "You are trying to take that away from her, too."
The video of Vance, in which he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as "childless cat ladies," was originally from 2021 but began re-circulating amid President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the election and nominate Harris as the Democratic candidate.
"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?" Vance asked Tucker Carlson in the July 2021 Fox News clip. "We're effectively run in this country... by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too."
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As for Aniston's response? The remarks weren't the first time she's gotten candid about fertility struggles. Back in 2022, the actress shared that she spent "many years" on a journey to get pregnant that included undergoing the process of IVF.
"I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it," Aniston told Allure at the time. "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. So here I am today. The ship has sailed."
With the challenging period behind her, Aniston said she now feels a "sense of relief."
"I've spent so many years protecting my story about IVF," she explained. "I'm so protective of these parts because I feel like there's so little that I get to keep to myself."
Noting that the world had created "narratives that aren't true," she added, "I feel like I'm coming out of hibernation. I don't have anything to hide."
