If there’s only one person you could ever count on to give informed and entertaining ripostes to media sexism, it’s Jennifer Aniston, who has had to deal with mass speculation about her personal and reproductive life for well over a decade.

The 49 year old star, who spoke to InStyle as its front cover feature for its September issue, spoke about the endless ‘poor Jen’ tropes – you know, the rumours about whether or not she’s pregnant, how heartbroken she is over two failed marriages, or is too selfish to be a mother – and insisted she’s “not heartbroken” after she split from Justin Theroux earlier this year.

“It's pretty crazy,” the former ‘Friends’ star told the magazine. “The misconceptions are 'Jen can't keep a man,' and 'Jen refuses to have a baby because she's selfish and committed to her career.' Or that I'm sad and heartbroken.”

Jennifer AnistonJennifer Aniston is a world expert at blocking out media B.S.

“First, with all due respect, I'm not heartbroken. And second, those are reckless assumptions. No-one knows what's going on behind closed doors. No-one considers how sensitive that might be for my partner and me. They don't know what I've been through medically or emotionally.”

More: Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux had “wanted to have a baby”

She also hit out at the general pressure there is on women to settle down, to find a husband and have children.

Aniston continued: “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?”

Perhaps referring to the media-concocted rivalry with Angelina Jolie (following Jen’s split with Brad Pitt in 2005, she said: “Women are picked apart and pitted against one another based on looks and clothing and superficial stuff. When a couple breaks up in Hollywood, it’s the woman who is scorned. The woman is left sad and alone. She’s the failure. F*** that. When was the last time you read about a divorced, childless man referred to as a spinster?”

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