Jennifer Aniston has opened up to the media to talk for the first time about a personal issue, infertility. The actress revealed that behind the pregnancy rumors that haunted her for years, she was fighting a personal battle. While the media debated whether or not she wanted to have children, Aniston was suffering what no one could have imagined. Or perhaps, they could had they stopped to consider it. “All the years and years and years of speculation… It was really hard,” Aniston told Allure.

“I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. 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.” Today, the actress best known for her role as ‘Rachel’ on Friends, has been married twice and never had children.

One of her most difficult periods was when she separated from Brad Pitt, her first engagement. In 2005, after five years of life as a couple, both decided to put an end to their relationship, which the media at the time speculated was because Aniston would have preferred to focus on her professional career, instead of being a mother. She has revealed this was all false.

“That narrative that I was just selfish, that I just cared about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child,” said Aniston. “And the reason my husband left me, why we broke up and ended our marriage, was because I wouldn’t give him a kid.

“It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.” Aniston gave no timeline for her IVF journey, Allure noted that it was simply “several years ago.” But now, at 53, she said she has “no regrets” about how things worked out.