Switch is a movie title that could be interpreted in more ways than one—in this case, Jennifer Aniston’s unconventional assertion of sexual preference during this interview or the determined lack of it. Aniston also put forth a declaration advocating motherhood without a need for men, physically or otherwise, and the new choices a woman in the 21st century has when it comes to having children.
Q: What’s that you’re wearing?
JENNIFER ANISTON: I’m wearing an Alexander McQueen dress. I chose it because it was handed to me!
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Q: OK…The Back Up Plan, The Kids Are All Right, and now Switch. Sperm donors seem to be everywhere in Hollywood movies these days. Do you see this as the, well, birth of a new genre?
JA: More stories are able to be told. That’s what is sort of refreshing. I think women are realizing more and more, I think women are knowing they don’t have to settle. They don’t have to just sort of settle with a man to have the child. And I think they are realizing if it’s that time in their life and they want this part, they can do it with or without that. I think it’s just sort of happening more and more. You know, people aren’t having kids in their 20s. So times have changed. That’s also what I think is amazing, is that we do have so many options these days as opposed to our parents’ generation. When, if they were told, “You can’t have children or you have waited too long,” that’s it. And your only option was adoption.
Q: Does that mean guys could just turn into useful reproductive tools, or simply a handyman?
JA: I don’t know. I don’t think it’s about a handyman. I think it’s about really finding that person that means something and not settling. I mean, we know a lot of single people happy as a lark. And we know a lot of married people pretty much not as thrilled as they would like to be.
Q: So do you think it’s truly possible, like in this movie, to stay with friends with an ex?
JA: Yes it is…
Q: And do you feel it’s possible for a man and a woman to be best friends without a physical relationship?
JA: Yes. I mean, I have.
Q: Can you elaborate?
JA: Well look, I mean that’s funny because I think it’s hard. But I think women would have an easier time with it than men do.
Q: When I heard that you were doing this movie, I remembered one of the tabloid covers that I read just a few months ago…
JA: You remember those, huh! It’s powerful reading material, yes…
Q: Well, you put your hand on your stomach and it says, “Jen’s whatever new baby.”
JA: Yeah. I have 13 children by now!
Q: Does that sort of stuff affect your choice of movies?
JA: I usually really try to steer away from making my creative choices based on what the tabloids are saying! I would be really screwed if I did. But, no, I don’t. That’s all silly.
Q: How do you react when you see things like that written about you? Does it make you angry or do you laugh about it?
JA: I don’t know. Sort of like on Days of our Lives, when Deirdre Hall was possessed!
Q: You have great chemistry with everyone you work with, even the dog from Marley & Me.
JA: That’s funny! Hey, I’m an actress. I’ve also been lucky that I’ve only had really great people I’ve worked with. That’s my luck.
Q: How do you stay looking so great?
JA: I’m eating very well. But I indulge when I want to indulge and I work out often. I do yoga. I do everything. I kind of change it up. And I try to do something every day at least, even if it’s just 20 minutes. Just to get your body sweating and blood pumping. It gives you a good day of energy.
Q: Did you run today?
JA: Absolutely, yeah. I have the Suzanne Summers thing underneath this desk!
Q: Do you think your character Kassie is the new modern woman, who chooses her own fate when she wants it, and how she wants it?
JA: Yeah! I mean, the subject is definitely that. It supports that. it supports what is sort of currently happening in our world today, that we as women have the choices and options of when or how to have children as we have evolved as a society.
Q: Do you feel you learned anything from Kassie?
JA: I have learned something from Kassie. I’ve learned something from every character I’ve played—especially in this case—and the women in my life who have gone through the struggles and heartbreak and frustration of fertility and adoption and all of that. I think that’s why it jumped out of me so immediately [was because of] the connection I had to it. I thought it was something very timely and progressive that hadn’t been really discussed. To have a love story woven through it was just sort of beautiful. And it’s hysterical, at least I think!
Q: Do you want to be a mother yourself one day?
JA: Yeah. I’ve said it years before. I still say it. That’s today, yeah!
