addressed the dehumanising experience of being
repeatedly reduced to tabloid fodder, and the
“painful awkwardness” of dispelling ctional
pregnancies to her friends and family on a daily
basis. She called the unwanted attention “absurd
and disturbing”. But her concern wasn’t for herself.
“The way I’m portrayed by the media is simply a
re ection of how we see and portray women in
general,” she wrote, adding that the endless
obsession with the state of both her ring nger and
uterus “points to the perpetuation of this notion
that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful,
or unhappy if they’re not married with children”.
Having issued this indictment on the gossip rag
industry, Jen then went for its predominantly female
audience. The idea was to make it clear that in
buying – or buying into – this industry’s product, we
fuel and nance its very existence. Such complicitness
contributes, she said, to the continuing acceptance
of cultural standards, with every dollar we spend
and every link we click signifying a “subconscious
agreement” to the cause.
“We are in charge of our agreement,” Jen said.“[By changing] how we react to the toxic messages
buried within these seemingly harmless stories
served up as truth and shaping our ideas of who we
are... we get to decide what’s being served up.”
She could have smashed a car windscreen with
an umbrella – and no judgement towards those
who do. But instead Jen showed that the pen
is mightier than the sword (or umbrella, as it
were). She also proved herself an unexpected canary
in the coal mine. Here, calling the US out, was
America’s sweetheart.Ma aeal
B
orn in Sherman Oaks, California to an actor
father and a model mother, it would appear
Jen was genetically and geographically
predisposed to a successful career in Hollywood. In
fact, her upbringing wasn’t easy. She had a dif cult
relationship with her mother, Nancy Dow, whose
criticisms contributed to Jen’s lack of self-esteem – a
situation not helped by her father, John, walking out
when she was nine. But she wasn’t put off acting,
starting off at a performing arts school in Manhattan,
then in a number of Off-Broadway productions.
Jen eventually endeared herself to the casting
agents for Friends, and then to the American public,
whose loyalty hasn’t wavered since. Case in point? In
the aftermath of the Brangelina affair, which saw
Jen dumped by Brad Pitt for his co-star Angelina
Jolie, LA boutique Kitson produced a line of T-shirts‘We are in charge of our agreement.
[By changing] how we react to the toxic
messages buried within these stories...
we get to decide what’s being served up’
24 NEXT / SEPTEMBER 2019