A seeming fairy-tale romance involving America’s sweetheart came to an end in 2005. Then, she quickly became the target of tabloids in a nightmare pursuit.
Jennifer Aniston’s journey from sitcom darling to A-list star and how her love life became a favorite for gossip hounds to publicly dissect is the subject of a new book, “Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s.”
It tells the story of nine women who “defied the hell of celebrity” and how they were “devoured by fame.”
“This kind of portrayal of her [as] a desperately baby-hungry woman. It doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny,” author Sarah Ditum told Fox News Digital. “The tabloid version of her was exaggerated and gussied up basically so everybody could feel their feelings about what women were deciding to do with their lives in general.”
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston in 2004, a year before they called it quits. (Dave Hogan)
“She became the sort of stand-in for that whole debate,” Ditum added.
A spokesperson for Aniston told Fox News Digital, “We have not read Ms. Ditum’s book and have no comment to offer.”
The “Friends” star catapulted to a new level of fame when she married actor Brad Pitt in 2000. They were quickly crowned Hollywood’s golden couple before scandal plagued their split.
Jennifer Aniston is one of several celebrities featured in Sarah Ditum’s book, “Toxic.” (Harry N. Abrams)
In 2003, Pitt crossed paths with Angelina Jolie while filming their spy thriller “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” in which they played married assassins. At the time, Jolie had recently separated from her ex-husband, Billy Bob Thorton. It wouldn’t be until 2005 when Pitt and Aniston announced their separation after seven years together. Their divorce was finalized that year.
Pitt and Jolie, known as “Brangelina,” were together 12 years. The pair adopted children from Cambodia, Vietnam and Ethiopia and formed the Jolie-Pitt Foundation in 2006. They married privately in 2014 at their French château. But the union ultimately broke down, and Jolie filed for divorce in 2016.
Aniston went on to marry actor/writer Justin Theroux in 2015. In 2017, the couple announced they had separated after nearly three years of marriage, calling their decision a “mutual and lovingly made” one. They’ve not only remained supportive of each other over the years, they’re known for staying in touch.
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Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston have remained good friends over the years. (Stephane Cardinale – Corbis)
Unlike Pitt, Aniston has been scrutinized by the press, Ditum argued. She pointed out that, over the years, the 54-year-old has been unfairly questioned about motherhood and was even the subject of “bump watch.” That scrutiny began after Aniston and Pitt called it quits, said Ditum.
In 2022, Aniston admitted to Allure that while she was the subject of painful speculation over the years, she struggled to get pregnant.
“I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it,” Aniston told the outlet. “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.”
Jennifer Aniston starred as Rachel Green in “Friends” from 1994 to 2004. (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal)
“The narrative that I was just selfish,” she shared. “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. It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.”
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married from 2014 to 2019. (Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)
Ditum described the scrutiny Aniston endured as “absolutely brutal.”
“I found it really painful going back over and reading some of the interviews and seeing how aggressively people pursued her about whether she was having children or not,” Ditum explained. “It’s like the nightmare scenario of being at a family Christmas dinner and your relatives keep asking you when you’re going to have kids. Only it’s happened to you in the mass media every time you go out to have an interview.
Sarah Ditum described the media scrutiny Jennifer Aniston endured as “absolutely brutal.” (Marc Piasecki/WireImage)
‘It was quite difficult to read that and see it from her perspective,” Ditum added. “And it’s for two reasons. No. 1, it’s because she’s a woman, and there has always been more focus on women and their fertility than there is on men and their fertility.
“But, also, because of the … global fandom investment in her and Brad Pitt’s relationship and this expectation that they were going to go from being the golden couple to being the golden family. People wanted that for her, and when it didn’t happen, they were damn well going to ask her questions about why it didn’t happen, which was very unpleasant for her.”
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Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller in a scene from “Friends,” circa 2002. (Danny Feld/NBCU Photo Bank)
Unlike some of the other celebs Ditum studied, she noted that Aniston has persevered over the years.
“One of the things that I thought about a lot while I was writing this book was about the different ways that people can deal with celebrity,” said Ditum. “There are some people who get consumed by that image.
“Jennifer Aniston … she’s interested in acting, in comedy more than she’s interested in being a celebrity, I think. So, she doesn’t do a lot of the ‘celebrity’ stuff. She always says that she’s kind of baffled by social media and doesn’t understand why anyone would be on it.”
Jennifer Aniston opened up about her struggles with fertility. (David Livingston)
“One of the things that’s … protected her is that she’s always had a bit of reserve and distance between Jennifer Aniston herself, the person, and Jennifer Aniston, the character that was being invented and knocked around in the press. It surprised me how much dignity she’s managed to maintain.
“While she was dealing with incredibly intrusive questions, it surprised me that she didn’t necessarily avoid the implications of fertility and relationships in the movie choices she was making. And partly that’s because if you’re a woman in Hollywood, you are going to get offered romantic roles. You’re going to get the wife, the girlfriend, whatever.
Jennifer Aniston is still hailed as America’s sweetheart. (20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)
“But looking over the stuff she did, there were some [projects} she chose to do that put, front and center, the idea of wanting a family and those things,” Ditum continued. “But I think that’s just a function of what roles you are offered. And you can see there’s just a dearth of good roles for someone who comes out of network television in that era. And it’s only when you get to the streaming explosion that you suddenly have good roles for women on TV again.”
Ditum said that while the press previously depicted Aniston as “eternally broody and a bit tragic,” or “Sad Jen,” the actress has proven she’s anything but.
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“She’s not spending her life mooning over her ex,” said Ditum. “She had a series of relationships with incredibly attractive, talented men. She’s had a successful career in comedy and is now obviously at the peak of her game.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
