Jennifer Aniston criticizes JD Vance for ‘childless cat ladies’ remarks: ‘I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children’

CNN

By Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN

(CNN) — Jennifer Aniston is criticizing JD Vance for comments he made in his past about women without children.

Aniston shared a screenshot of Vance’s appearance on her Instagram stories, and wrote, “I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States.”

In a 2021 appearance on Tucker Carlson’s former Fox News show, Vance, who was then a candidate for the Ohio Senate, told Carlson that the United States was being run 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.”

In the resurfaced clip, which re-gained traction this week on social media, Vance said, “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?”

Aniston — who typically keeps her personal life private, but has publicly spoken about her fertility journey — also wrote about Vance’s far-right stance on reproductive rights.

“All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day,” Aniston wrote in her post. “I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”

Reproductive health will be a key issue in November’s election. Many women in Hollywood have spoken out about reproductive rights and will align with Harris, who has been the Biden administration’s leading voice on abortion and female health care.

Lindsay Lewis, Vance’s sister, said in a statement that her brother was not only “raised by some of the strongest women” she knows but also married “an incredibly strong woman in Usha.”

“JD is a testament to the women in his life, and the attacks from the media and Democrats that assume anything otherwise is vile,” Lewis said.

Aniston’s remarks about Vance’s comments come from a personal place. Throughout her career, she has been subjected to excessive tabloid coverage, which has repeatedly prodded into her relationships over the years and questioned why she does not have children.

In 2022, Aniston gave rare comments in an Allure cover story, sharing for the first time that she struggled with her fertility and underwent IVF.

“I was trying to get pregnant. It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,” Aniston said, reflecting on her 30s and 40s. “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’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.”

In her Allure interview, Aniston said the media’s narrative that she “was just selfish” and “just cared about my career” was painful.

“God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child,” she said in 2022. “And the reason my husband left me, why we broke up and ended our marriage, was because I wouldn’t give him a kid. It was absolute lies.”

On Wednesday, Aniston also appeared to give her endorsement to Harris by reposting a 2018 video of Harris pushing then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on abortion rights. (The video Aniston reposted was shared by actress Allison Janney.)

CNN has reached out to Aniston’s representative for further comment on her post about Vance and her apparent endorsement of Harris.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Sunlen Serfaty contributed to this report.

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