Jennifer Aniston has revealed the toll that speculation about her personal life - particularly her marital status and lack of children - took on her mentally.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Friends star said she's been able to learn to deal with rumours and assertions she "chose career over kids", but found them "hurtful and nasty" nonetheless.
"I used to take it all very personally - the pregnancy rumours and the whole 'Oh, she chose career over kids' assumption.
"It's like, 'You have no clue what’s going with me personally, medically, why I can't … can I have kids?" They don't know anything, and it was really hurtful and just nasty."
Aniston said that the vicious cycle of public scrutiny for those in the spotlight has evolved over the years, and is now often perpetrated by social media users.
"What the tabloids and the media did to people's personal lives back then, regular people are doing now [on social media].
"Although I haven't seen a tabloid in so long. Am I still having twins? Am I going to be the miracle mother at 52?" she said.
"It's almost like the media handed over the sword to any Joe Schmo sitting behind a computer screen to be a troll or whatever they call them and bully people in comment sections," she continued.
"So it's just sort of changed hands in a way. And I don't know why there's such a cruel streak in society. I often wonder what they get off on."
The Morning Show actor said that she was aware that people "project onto her" in her line of work, but that she had developed coping mechanisms to deal with the pressure.
"My job is to go, 'Listen, I'll show you what I'm capable of, and you decide if you want to subscribe'.
"So, you disappear as much as you can, you have fun, you take on these weird roles, you don’t give a shit, you enjoy yourself, you remember that you have a gorgeous group of friends and your life is blessed and you do the best that you can."
