Jennifer Aniston, one of the tabloid favorites when it comes to writing about celebrity breakups, has, once again, served as the perfect person to provide fodder for their likely fledgling sales (and views). “Her Split With Justin: Jen’s Heartbreak,” screams the cover of this week’s People. “Inside Jen’s Shattered World” declares the current issue of Us Weekly. Gossip websites have been having a field day with their angling of the story, as well, HollywoodLife.com insisting, “Jennifer Aniston Swears Off Sex & Dating After Justin Theroux: Ready To Focus On ‘Herself Now.’” What do all of these rags have in common? An innate desire to persist in painting the portrait of the woman post-breakup as the sad little victim who will never recover from the loss.
Meanwhile, Justin Theroux is getting blatantly biased (and sexist) puff pieces about how savvy he was for choosing to post about dogs on Instagram for his first foray onto social media since the announcement of the separation–all of barely two weeks ago (as highlighted by Us Weekly to accent how much more easily Theroux seems to be getting over it). Is he being accused of never having the ability to love (or worse, have sex) again? Of course not. He is still the virile, aesthetically viable male who can easily pick up another bird half his age if and when he’s ready to. And, to add insult to injury, Aniston’s age is being bandied about more readily than ever, with such descriptions as, “The 49-year-old actress” precluding tales of how crestfallen she is over her “latest” divorce. Case in point is The Daily Mail‘s claim, “The 49-year-old actress was spotted looking sullen while leaving the TCL Chinese Theater on Wednesday night where the premiere of pal Jason Bateman’s movie was being held.”
Maybe they just happened to take enough series of photos to capture the one random expression of sadness to corroborate their so-called story. To continue kicking her while she’s down with jibes about age in relation to desirability/odds of “procuring” a man again, The Daily Mail also describes her as “the veteran actress.” Jesus Christ, you’d think she was a crypt keeper older than Helen Mirren or something.
Even more than positioning Aniston, once again, as the woman jilted and therefore worthy of feeling shame, media outlets are also shifting the blame on her by inferring that it was Theroux’s discovery of “Post-It love notes” from Brad Pitt that contributed to the eventual downfall. But come on, who among us hasn’t saved mementos of one of our great loves? ‘Tis only human (or maybe just female as the jury is still out on whether or not men are human) to show such sentimentality. And honestly, the “world” (or rather, the last of the believers in Hollywood glamor) desires nothing more than to believe that J.A. and B.P. are destined for a reunion because true love–the kind that really lasts forever in the collective’s mind–can only exist in the realm of celebrity (e.g. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, George Burns and Gracie Allen).
Whatever the genuine catalyst for their divorce was–because there was clearly far more to it that the stock “respectful, loving space”/”unconscious coupling” statement given the day after Valentine’s Day that led to the demise–the only benefit should have at least been that, in 2018, Aniston wasn’t at risk for enduring the same level of blatant chauvinism that has thrived in the Hollywood gossip machine for so long. But no, instead, her reputation is being further smeared with such “insider tidbits” as, “…says the source close to her, ‘She disliked New York [Theroux’s preferred base] because she couldn’t hide, and she’d have a lot of anxiety about it. She could never do anything spontaneous.’ Aniston’s high-maintenance lifestyle also wore the Zoolander 2 screenwriter…” Though one can at least take comfort in the unwitting dig about describing Theroux as “Zoolander 2 screenwriter,” it’s more than fairly overt that the rumor mill is all in favor of churning out ones that depict Aniston as both victim and villain. Not only infuriating because of Aniston’s first battle in the ring of publicly dissected splits, it also accents just how little has changed in the face of people insisting that it has. The “it” being treating women in the public eye like a bullfighter they want to see gored (though Aniston is of Greek descent, this felt like the most culturally appropriate metaphor). “The fallen woman,” “the woman humiliated,” “the woman who couldn’t keep a man”–all of that has got to fucking go in the remaking and reckoning of this industry.
