A look at Jennifer Aniston’s longstanding battle against press intrusion

American actor Jennifer Aniston's personal life is often the subject of discussion in tabloids and on social media.

Following her recent denial of reports about her adopting a child from Mexico, the Friends actor's earlier statements on children have now come afloat.

The actor called out the media’s obsession with her plans of starting a family, through an essay that she penned for Huffpost in 2016.

“This past month in particular has illuminated for me how much we define a woman’s value based on her marital and maternal status,” wrote Aniston.

“The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for the bajillionth time… but who’s counting) points to the perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they’re not married with children,” she continued.

“In this last boring news cycle about my personal life there have been mass shootings, wildfires, major decisions by the Supreme Court, an upcoming election, and any number of more newsworthy issues that ‘journalists’ could dedicate their resources towards,” she added.

In 2018, she spoke to InStyle and touched on the same topic: “There is a pressure on women to be mothers, and if they are not, then they’re deemed damaged goods. Maybe my purpose on this planet isn’t to procreate. Maybe I have other things I’m supposed to do?”

In another interview with Elle magazine, Aniston said she finds the idea of having children “quite honestly, kind of frightening.”

“Some people are just built to be wives and have babies. I don’t know how naturally that comes to me,” she said.