Actor Jennifer Aniston, who has been open about her fertility struggles, slammed Sen. JD Vance over a resurfaced 2021 interview in which he said the United States was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies.”
“I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States,” Aniston wrote Wednesday in an Instagram story, including a clip of Vance’s comments.
The interview gained fresh traction this week after it was posted on X, days after former President Donald Trump announced that the Republican senator from Ohio would be his vice presidential running mate.
During a 2021 appearance on Tucker Carlson’s former Fox News show, Vance said that the country was being led “by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
“So they want to make the rest of the country miserable too,” Vance continued. “And it’s just a basic fact. If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], 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, who has two stepchildren, is now running for president after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, has adopted twins.
Vance went on to say in the clip that he believes people “who go home at night and see the face of a smiling kid, whatever their profession, I think they’re happier, I think they’re healthier, and they’re going to be better prepared to actually lead this country.”
Aniston also called out Vance over his 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. “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.”
The actor told Allure in 2022 that she tried to get pregnant for many years but “it was a challenging road” for her.
“I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it,” she said. “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.”
Aniston, 55, said the constant media scrutiny and false claims that she didn’t want children because she was “selfish” were hurtful.
Harris’ stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, on Thursday also pushed back against Vance’s comments in the 2021 interview.
“How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I,” Emhoff wrote Thursday morning on Instagram, referring to her brother and Harris’ other stepchild, Cole Emhoff.
Emhoff also praised a statement by her biological mother, second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, who defended Harris against “baseless attacks” and praised her for being a “loving, nurturing, fiercely protective” stepmother to her children for more than 10 years.
While Aniston did not officially back Harris, many in Hollywood have begun publicly broadcasting their enthusiasm for her campaign.
Josh Gad, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Barbra Streisand and Kerry Washington were among the flood of actors to voice their support. A handful of artists, including Lil Nas X and John Legend, also shared posts on social media backing Harris.
And Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was among the first Democratic donors to publicly urge Biden to step aside, donated $7 million to a super PAC supporting Harris’ run, The Information reported.
