Jennifer Aniston was critical of remarks made by Sen. J.D. Vance over ‘childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives’ while speaking about Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021.
Aniston, 55, took to Instagram Stories on Wednesday with sharp words for Vance, who is running as Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate, atop a clip of him speaking with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
‘I truly can’t believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States,’ the Friends star said on the social media platform. ‘All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day.
‘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 comments Vance made in 2021 questioning Vice President Harris´ leadership because she did not have biological children resurfaced in recent days, testing the young conservative senator in his early days campaigning as part of the Republicans’ presidential ticket.
Jennifer Aniston, 55, was critical of remarks made by Sen. J.D. Vance, 39, over ‘childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives’ while speaking about Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021. Pictured last month in LA
Aniston, 55, took to Instagram Stories on Wednesday with sharp words for Vance, who is running as Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate, atop a clip of him speaking with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson
During Vance’s bid for the Senate in Ohio, he said in a Fox News interview that ‘we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats,’ and referred to them as ‘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.’
He said that included Harris, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat.
Vance said to Carlson in the interview, ‘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?’
Vance, 39, and wife Usha Vance, 38, have three kids – sons Ewan, six, and Vivek, four, and daughter Mirabel, two.
Harris became stepmother to two children – Cole, 29, and daughter Ella, 25 – when she married entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff in 2014. Buttigieg announced he and his husband adopted infant twins in September 2021, more than a month before Vance made those comments.
Aniston, who can currently be seen on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, has been candid about her issues with fertility and trying to have a child over the years.
Aniston, who was previously in marriages with Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux, chat with the publication Allure in December of 2022 about how she had past sought to have children more than a decade back.
Aniston told the publication, ‘I would say my late 30s, 40s, I’d gone through really hard s***, and if it wasn’t for going through that, I would’ve never become who I was meant to be.
Aniston said on her social media platform, ‘All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. 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’
Aniston, who can currently be seen on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, has been candid about her issues with fertility and trying to have a child over the years
‘That’s why I have such gratitude for all those s****y things. Otherwise, I would’ve been stuck being this person that was so fearful, so nervous, so unsure of who they were. And now, I don’t f***ing care.’
She expounded on her feelings, saying she ‘was trying to get pregnant’ during that timeframe.
‘It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,’ Aniston said. ‘All the years and years and years of speculation … it was really hard.’
Aniston opened up about the multiple methods she explored in her attempts to become pregnant.
‘I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it,’ Aniston 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 said things were ‘really hard’ for her emotionally in the years there were rumors she was pregnant; and the insinuations that she chose her show business career over having children were ‘absolute lies.’
She said in the 2022 interview: ‘I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, “Can I?” I don’t have to think about that anymore.’
In November of 2022, an insider told People that the A-list actress remained ‘at peace’ and ‘very happy in her life,’ adding, ‘She’s in a great place, and she knows that … kids or no kids, it didn’t change her.’
Aniston chat with the publication Allure in December of 2022 about how she had past sought to have children more than a decade back. Pictured in June in LA
Aniston said things were ‘really hard’ for her emotionally in the years there were rumors she was pregnant; and the insinuations that she chose her show business career over having children were ‘absolute lies’
Aniston in July of 2016 penned a piece for Huffington Post in which she stated her views on the years of speculation over her having kids, and how she felt validated regardless of if she’s a parent or not.
‘Here’s where I come out on this topic: We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child,’ Aniston said. ‘We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone.’
She added: ‘Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples … we don’t need to be married or mothers to be complete. We get to determine our own “happily ever after” for ourselves.’
The 2021 clip of Vance has spread online, with former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sharing it in a Tuesday post on X and adding sarcastically ‘what a normal, relatable guy who certainly doesn´t hate women having freedoms.’
The recirculated comment may be a sign of the GOP ticket´s troubles appealing to women voters, and on the issue of reproductive rights.
It follows the explosive entrance in the race of Harris, who secured the support of enough delegates to become the official nominee in less than 32 hours after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid.
It also lays out some of the fears expressed by strategists that Trump took a political risk in picking a running mate who has been in Congress less than two years and is largely untested on a bigger stage. Trump liked Vance´s telegenic qualities and said he reminded him of ‘a young Abraham Lincoln.’
The Harris campaign contested Vance´s stance, saying ‘every single American has a stake in this country´s future.’
The comments Vance made in 2021 questioning Vice President Harris’ leadership because she did not have biological children have resurfaced. Pictured Monday in Virginia
‘Ugly, personal attacks from J.D. Vance and Donald Trump are in line with their dangerous Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion, decimate our democracy, and gut Social Security,’ said James Singer, a Harris campaign spokesman, referring to a policy and personnel plan for a second Trump term that was crafted by a host of former administration officials.
Trump has been trying to distance himself from it. Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services should ‘pursue a robust agenda’ to protect ‘the fundamental right to life.’
However, the document contains no proposals to cut Social Security, though the Heritage Foundation that oversaw it has long pushed for changes to the entitlement. The plan outlines a dramatic expansion of presidential power and a plan to fire as many as 50,000 government workers.
Vance´s spokesperson said the Harris campaign is lying about Vance’s views, noting her record is ‘littered with countless failures and disasters.
‘It’s well known that Senator Vance found success in life due in large part to the influence of strong female role models like his grandmother,’ spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk said.
Vance is a former Marine and businessman who was first elected to public office in 2022. He wrote the 2016 bestseller Hillbilly Elegy, and developed a strong rapport with Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and leading MAGA figures with his personal story of growing up in Appalachia in poverty with a mother battling drug addiction could resonate with voters.
One of the major questions Vance is facing is on his abortion stance. Vance previously said he would support a federal bill to prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but believes in certain exceptions.
Former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump selected Vance as his vice presidential candidate on July 15. Pictured at a Michigan rally July 20
In 2021, Vance floated an idea to allow parents to cast ballots on behalf of their children, saying during a speech at the conservative nonprofit Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Virginia that people who don’t have children ‘don´t have as much of an investment in the future of the country.’
‘When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power, you should have more of an availability to speak your voice in our democratic republic than people who don´t have kids,’ he said.
‘Doesn´t this mean that non parents don´t have as much of a voice as parents?’ he said critics would then ask. ‘Doesn´t this mean that parents get a bigger say in how a democracy functions? Yes, absolutely.’