Actor Jennifer Aniston, who has openly discussed her fertility struggles, criticized Senator JD Vance over a resurfaced 2021 interview where he claimed 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 on Wednesday in an Instagram story, including a clip of Vance’s comments.
The interview gained renewed attention this week after it was posted on X, shortly 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, “The country is being led by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and the choices they’ve made. So they want to make the rest of the country miserable too. 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 2024 race. Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, has adopted twins.
Vance continued in the clip, expressing his belief that 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 criticized Vance for 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 shared with Allure in 2022 that she tried to get pregnant for many years but found it “a challenging road.”
“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 about it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”
Aniston, 55, mentioned that the constant media scrutiny and false claims that she didn’t want children because she was “selfish” were hurtful.
Harris’ stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, also responded to Vance's comments from the 2021 interview on Thursday.
“How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and me?” Emhoff wrote in an Instagram post, referring to her brother and Harris’ other stepchild, Cole Emhoff.
Emhoff also praised her biological mother, second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, for defending Harris against “baseless attacks” and commending her for being a “loving, nurturing, fiercely protective” stepmother for more than 10 years.
While Aniston did not officially endorse Harris, her Instagram post comes as many in Hollywood have begun publicly supporting the vice president’s campaign.
Josh Gad, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Barbra Streisand, and Kerry Washington were among the actors voicing their support. Several artists, including Lil Nas X and John Legend, also shared posts on social media backing Harris.
Additionally, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was one of the first Democratic donors to publicly urge Biden to step aside, donated $7 million to a super PAC supporting Harris’ run, according to The Information.